The 80-foot “Water’s Soul, 2020” by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa depicts the head of a young person with an index finger pressed against her lips, her eyes closed in a “gesture for quietude.”
The massive installation sits on the edge of the Hudson River, in Jersey City, New Jersey, paying tribute to the river and created as a call to protect all water, which Plensa calls “ the most public space in the world.”
Plensa’s piece was dedicated Thursday, the most recent example of public art that strives to inspire its audience to take action on a social issue, such the “Fearless Girl” statue in 2017 that called on companies to add more female board members. Recent works have included a focus on the environment, such as Maya Lin’s “Ghost Forest.”
