Jaume Plensa always in the best public spaces
Perez Art Museum of Miami | Photo By Nadia Bouzid
Location: PAMM – Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida
Artist: Jaume Plensa
Nationality: Spanish
Materials: Polyester resin and marble dust
Size: 12mts x 351 x 437 cm
TITLE: LOOKING INTO MY DREAMS, AWILDA, 2012
Her name is Awilda. Before arriving outside Pérez Art Museum Miami, she stood in the water at Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, then beside Michigan Avenue in Chicago. In Miami, Jorge Pérez has given her another waterfront address.
Created by Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa in 2012, Looking Into My Dreams, Awilda stands nearly 40 feet tall. She is made of polyester resin and marble dust, with an elongated face and closed eyes. The subject is a Dominican girl who moved to Spain. Her portrait has since traveled considerably farther.
Pérez purchased the sculpture after its stay in Chicago’s Millennium Park and brought it to Museum Park as a promised gift to PAMM. The setting returns Awilda to the water, with one difference that changes how you see her. In Rio, her head emerged from the bay and faced the city. Here, she rises from the ground and faces Biscayne Bay, with the Port of Miami beyond.
It is a generous place to put a work of this scale. Outside the museum, Awilda can be part of an ordinary walk along the waterfront. There is room to approach her, step back and see how Plensa’s distorted proportions shift as you move.
She is part of the outdoor sculpture garden outside the Perez Art Museum of Miami
Plensa is greatly recognized for his sculptures in public spaces.
Awilda was born in Rio de Janeiro. Her purpose was to pay homage to Yemanjá, the divinity of the sea.
The first time the sculpture was first displayed, it was by the shore in the beach at Botafogo, as if she were coming to life from the water. Later she was transferred to Millennium Park in Chicago to be part of an installation by Plans called"1004 Portraits”.
Perez Art Museum of Miami || Photo By Nadia Bouzid
Perez Art Museum of Miami || Photo By Nadia Bouzid
Perez Art Museum of Miami || Photo By Nadia Bouzid
Perez Art Museum of Miami || Photo By Nadia Bouzid