BY SERGEI KLEBNIKOV | Immigrants put down roots in a new country. In a public garden / art installation in Duarte Square, artist Juanli Carrion expressed this theme by installing unique plants picked by new Americans.
On Wed., June 4, in partnership with the Parks Department, Carrion unveiled the garden, which explores the diversity of New York City’s immigrant experience.
He was joined at Canal St. and Sixth Ave. for the ribbon-cutting ceremony by Bill Castro, the Manhattan borough Parks commissioner; City Councilmember Margaret Chin; Inigo Ramirez de Haro, from the Spanish Consul for Cultural Affairs; George Pisegna, deputy director at the Horticultural Society; and Ellen Baer, executive director of the Hudson Square Connection business improvement district.
Carrion’s project, called “Outer Seed Shadow #1,” is composed of a variety of different plants, each one chosen by Manhattan-based immigrants.
He conceived the idea in 2012, when he was considering permanent residence in the U.S. after four years of living in New York. The Spaniard wanted to investigate the realities of immigrant life in New York, and conducted a series of on-camera interviews with immigrants living throughout the borough.
At the end of each discussion, the subjects chose a unique plant that represented both them and their home country. All of the plants were planted in the 1,000-square-foot garden — which is in the shape of Manhattan — to represent the diversity of the city.
Chin and Castro both spoke at the ceremony, and expressed their support for the project.
