Wings of the City

International Sculpture Exhibit In Brookhaven

In May 2022, Brookhaven welcomed “Wings of the City,” a city-wide, traveling sculpture exhibition from acclaimed Mexican artist Jorge Marín. “Wings” unfolded just a few months after the Brookhaven Arts and Culture Commission designated the Buford Highway Cultural Corridor. Before touching down locally, it traveled throughout the west and southwest. “It’s fitting and exciting that our first public art installation celebrates the diversity of Brookhaven’s citizens…this is only the beginning,” says Brookhaven ACC Chair Lauren Kiefer.

If you didn’t know better, you might think this series of nine sculptures was a permanent installation–the bronze sculptures nestled into Brookhaven’s parks and greenspaces are not only stunning but life-sized. Displayed around the city, they combine human and mythological forms, creating fantastic beings that inspire conversation and wonder, bringing even more attention to public spaces.

Though Marín is most famous for his bronze work, his career has encompassed multiple disciplines. What ultimately drew him to bronze, he says, is its ability to hold finely detailed, anatomical precision regardless of scale, something you’ll notice immediately in the figures of the Wings series. Throughout “Wings of the City,” you’ll find winged creatures as well as human figures poised in gymnastic positions, defying gravity as they materialize the dream of taking flight. In different ways, each one showcases strength, flexibility, and the human desire to “rise above” or transcend.

Ranging from six and a half to 13 feet tall, the sculptures are hard to miss. At the cornerstone of the exhibit, Wings of Mexico, outside the Mexican Consulate on Chantilly Drive, spectators can step into the artwork, becoming part of the intricate wings rising as a universal symbol of freedom and hope–and, of course, a not-to-be-missed photo op.

Spend an afternoon strolling or biking the Peachtree Creek Greenway, wander through Oglethorpe University’s campus and Blackburn Park as well as Northeast Plaza, and stop by the Mexican Consulate and Latin American Association to see the full exhibition. Along with Wings of Mexico, the collection includes Bernardo Oriental, Persélidas Monumental, Archivaldo Monumental, Split Monumental, El Abrazo Monumental, Hombre Universal, El Tiempo Monumental, and Equilibrista 90, each worth its own visit. You’ll be enjoying some of Brookhaven’s most beautiful parks and green spaces at the same time. If art and nature top your list of favorite ways to spend a day, “Wings of the City” is your ticket to both.