COME September 9 a new Bob Marley statue will be the centrepiece at the opening of the Art of Reggae Exhibition at 92 Degrees Coffee in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

The opening will also include music from local disc jocks, as well as speech and performance from poet Levi Tafari, who was born in Liverpool to Jamaican parents.

The statue is being created by renowned British sculptor Andy Edwards, who is also responsible for the creation of the Beatles and Mohammed Ali statues.

According to the Positive Vibration Festival, who commissioned the project, the new Marley statue is aimed at paying homage to his universality.

In an official statement, the festival said they contacted Edwards through the Castle Fine Arts to create the seven-foot-tall statue.

“Bob Marley is a cultural icon who is recognised and adored all around the world. More importantly, he is a symbol of peace, love and unity — all of which are needed more than ever right now. We hope the statue of Bob not only celebrates his ongoing legacy, but provides joy, happiness, and inspiration to the people who come across and engage with it,” the statement read in part.

Meanwhile, the sculptor added that the piece will cement the eternal impact Marley has had and continue to have on the world.

“Peace is not having a lie down, it’s a fight. It’s not something static like a word on a T-Shirt; it’s an action, an ongoing struggle. Every kind of peace throughout the world is under threat right now, and we need our champions. We need Bob Marley and the power he summons at the centre of the ring again. We’re about to touch gloves with the toughest challenges humanity has ever faced and there’s only one way to meet that, with love and in unity,” he said in a statement.

The first Bob Marley statue was commissioned by the Jamaican Government in 1981 and was unveiled in Celebrity Park, Kingston.

Since then several other Marley statues have been mounted in Jamaica, including at the University of Technology (UTech) Jamaica, Trench Town Culture Yard, Island Village, Ocho Rios, and the Bob Marley Museum on Hope Road in St Andrew.

Marley died on May 11, 1981 of cancer in a Miami hospital. He was 36.