"A city is not architecture. It is not geometric shapes or buildings, a city is mainly people. My intention was not to [create] an object, it was to create a place, a space for people to come and enjoy being together... Immediately I thought about a portrait of a young woman trying to ask for quietness and silence from the area. To listen again to the profound sound of the world."

Overlooking the Hudson River across from Lower Manhattan, Jaume Plensa's ambitious new work, Water’s Soul, depicts a serene figure holding a finger to her lips in a state of silent contemplation. Standing 80 feet tall, Water’s Soul is the artist’s tallest public sculpture to-date and was created as a site-specific sculpture for Newport's waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. The sculptural portrait, although prodigious in scale, humbly gestures for quietude, a beckoning towards empathetic self-reflection. Plensa’s installation serves as a tribute to the Hudson River, aligning with the artist’s ongoing interest in bodies of water as proxies for humankind. “Water is a marvelous metaphor for humanity,” Plensa reflects. “One drop of water is quite alone, like a single person, but many drops together can create a tidal wave, and form immense rivers and oceans; When individuals come together to exchange ideas and create community, we can build something incredibly powerful.”

Click here to learn more about Jaume Plensa's Water's Soul. 

Video courtesy of Newport Associates Development Company.