📍 PAMM – Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida

Her name is Awilda

She is part of the outdoor sculpture garden outside the Perez Art Museum of Miami

Made out of white marble and resin

Artist: Jaume Plensa

Nationality: Spanish

Plensa is greatly recognized for his sculptures in public spaces.

more Jaume Plensa

TITLE: LOOKING INTO MY DREAMS, AWILDA, 2012

Polyester resin and marble dust

12mts x 351 x 437 cm

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”.

It was there that Jorge Perez saw her and decided to bring her to Miami, and give her a new home by the water just like in Rio de Janeiro where she was born.

There only difference in her position is that instead of rising from the ocean and facing the city, she rises from the earth and faces Biscayne Bay, welcoming visitors from the water to downtown.

In an interview with Ocean Drive Magazine, Jorge Perez said that as soon as he saw Looking Into My Dreams, Awilda, he knew the piece belonged in Miami. "Major public exhibitions go a long way to identify cities as important cultural destinations, and that is exactly what we’re trying to achieve. Whenever my team and I attend art fairs, biennials, and other events, we are looking not only for pieces that speak to us on an emotional level, but those that have the power to help in our city’s growth and evolution. Awilda was exactly that".

“For Awilda, Miami is the perfect place to live. Water is the main public space in the word.” – Jaume Plensa, artist || photo by Nadia Bouzid

" I love that it memorializes the humanity in every individual ...." - Jorge M. Perez