Copley Square Park Public Art Projects
Cultivating peace through public art in Copley Square Park
How can we grieve together?
How can we heal together?
How can we reply to violence with love?
The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture is commissioning four new public artworks for the renovated Copley Square Park—light projections, small sculptures, engravings, and a poem—that will help create a welcoming space in our City for gathering and reflection.
The artworks will express communal solidarity in response to violence and cultivate peace in all of our communities. They will focus on the experience of people across all neighborhoods of Boston, and invite collective healing.
Remembering & learning about the lives and moments that violence has taken from us can be difficult. Here are some additional resources that can support visitors on individual and collective healing journeys.
Project Details
The Mayor’s Office of Art and Culture is commissioning the creation of four long term installations that:
- Create a welcoming space for communal gathering and individual reflection
- Incorporate trees and green space
- Acknowledge loss
- Evoke the emotions of empathy and unity
Our original Call to Artists stemmed from the 2018/2019 One Boston Resilience Project (OBRP), a citywide community engagement process to envision our collective strength after violence, as illuminated by the Boston Marathon bombings. Community solidarity, empathy, and acknowledgement of loss from violence emerged as the themes for this project.
For this important public space, our team sought out artwork that reflects on the resilience and resolve of Bostonians in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, while also celebrating Boston’s peacekeepers and healers who have worked for years to address violence and trauma.
Commissioning Process
In November 2022, the City released a Call for Artists for the creation of four new public artworks at Copley Square Park. The Artist Selection Committee was composed of advisors from the OBRP process, as well as several local poets and artists.
About the Site
Copley Square Park is located in the heart of the Back Bay neighborhood and is a beloved destination for residents, visitors, commuters, and many others. Copley Square Park provides green space for visitors of the many historically and culturally significant buildings surrounding it.
Copley Square Park is currently undergoing a major redesign effort. Many of the existing park program areas will be part of the new design which includes:
- a revitalized fountain
- new lawn areas
- a spacious plaza
- lush gardens, and
- a new raised platform allowing people to gather among the existing trees and enjoy different views of the park.
We worked with colleagues at the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the design firm Sasaki, as well as artist consultant Matthew Hinçman to investigate opportunities for artwork within the renovation of Copley Square because of its proximity to the sites of the Marathon bombings.
Existing Artwork
The park contains five existing artworks:
- The Tortoise and The Hare, by artist Nancy Schön was designed in 1995 as a reference to the Aesop fable by the same name, to honor the 100th anniversary of the Boston Marathon.
- The Kahlil Gibran Memorial, 1977, created by the subject’s nephew (also named Kahlil Gibran), is dedicated to the life and work of the world famous painter, poet, and philosopher, who lived and worked in the South End for most of his life and studied at the Boston Public Library.
- The Boston Marathon Centennial Monument commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Boston Marathon, and is located near the finish line. Installed in 1996, it is a granite medallion inlaid in the sidewalk, and was created by Robert Lamb, Robert Shure, and Mark Flannery.
- The statue of John Singleton Copley depicts the prolific portrait painter of colonial America after whom the square is named. Installed in 2002, it was created by Lewis Cohen. Lastly, the Daniel J. Ahern Jr. memorial, which is unattributed, was installed in 1996 and honors the founder and longtime director of the Back Bay Association.
One Boston Resilience Project
The One Boston Resilience Project (OBRP) was a citywide community engagement process to envision our collective strength after violence, as illuminated by the Boston Marathon bombings.
This four-month-long community engagement process began in 2018 and included:
- listening sessions in Back Bay, Jamaica Plain, East Boston, and Dorchester
- open community meetings
- digital outreach
- creative and participatory activities in several languages, and
- an online survey.
The Organizers
The Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture led the OBRP process with Archipelago Strategies Group. A mayoral-appointed Advisory Committee, which included members of the broad survivor community, advocates, and healers of Boston, informed the engagement process.
Chaplain Clementina Chéry, founder of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, facilitated meetings of the Advisory Committee. Cher Krause Knight, professor of Art History at Emerson College, served as public art research advisor for the project.
The Findings
Through the OBRP process, the City considered ways to recognize the impact of violence and loss in our lives. We examined how we build resilience, not just as individuals, but as a community. We learned that residents want an artwork to be a welcoming space for communal gathering and a space for individual reflection and contemplation, artwork that incorporates trees and green space. They also want artwork that evokes empathy, unity, and acknowledgement of loss. We concluded that we need artworks to humanize public space for welcoming gatherings and reflection.
Louis D Brown Peace Institute
The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief, and loss, will continue to support a healing-centered, trauma-responsive approach to our community engagement efforts for the project as guided by Teaching Artist-In-Residence Ruth K. Henry.
Related Resources
Related Resources
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