Splashing across 2,500 feet of Prudential Center’s Boylston Street entrance will be Latinx muralist and graphic designer Yenny Hernandez’s new installation, “Ponle Vuelo A Tus Sueños/Let Your Dreams Take Flight,” a brightly-colored vinyl building wrap that will envelop two sides of the building’s exterior on Boylston Street and will delight visitors with vibrant colors, tropical foliage, and nostalgic imagery, according to a press release.
The new work, commissioned by Boston Properties (BXP) and curated by Boston’s Now + There public art organization, opens June 30. The opening event will be from 5 to 7 p.m. (Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mural-opening-with-artist-yenny-hernandez-at-prudential-center-tickets-360836390357.)
Hernandez’s “Ponle Vuelo A Tus Sueños/Let Your Dreams Take Flight,” pays homage to the pursuit of dreams and the Latinx journey to attain them. Using recognizable patterns and foliage, Mexican marigolds and tropical leaves, the artwork features a tropical parrot, referencing flight, and traditional coffee maker, a symbol meant to evoke grandmothers and kitchens in Latin America. The joyous, welcoming message is one of encouragement and positive reinforcement to the Latinx community which she feels can often be a journey of breaking through language, education, and socio-economic barriers.
“Yenny’s work explores a core belief that words have the power to transform and reframe our outlook on life, ourselves, and our experiences,” Now + There Executive Director Kate Gilbert said in a press release.
“We feel the energy of the City of Boston every day, and there is no better way to celebrate and contribute to our reinvigorated city than through public art,” Bryan Koop, Executive Vice President, Boston Region, BXP, said in a press release. “We’re thrilled to build on our long-standing partnership with Now + There and once again uses Prudential Center as a canvas to showcase diverse, local, emerging artists. Yenny’s inspiring message and vibrant mural will be the perfect addition to the “front door” of the Prudential Center – a warm and welcome sight for all those visiting Boston as well as those that call it home.”
In the evening hours, rainbow-colored lights will offset the bright mural on the outside of Prudential Center. Inside, the staircase will also feature additional art with bilingual words of encouragement woven throughout. A social media campaign based on the installation will ask participants to add their dreams and perspective on the American Dream to be compiled into a book.
“Encouragement is one of the few forms of exchange that costs nothing yet holds the power to be priceless to others,” Hernandez, who is of Puerto Rican descent and now lives in Dorchester, said in a press release. “From reminding us to dream to sparking us to accept ourselves in every shape, gender, life stage, and mental state, uplifting words have the power to reframe our outlook on self, life, and experience.”