Immersive Installation by Rachel Hsu (MFA ‘21) Wins Public Art Competition
Philadelphia artist and Tyler Sculpture alum Rachel Hsu (MFA '21) has been selected to install a temporary public art installation in Maja Park along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. The interactive artwork, titled The Weight of Our Living, is currently on view through October 2024.
Hsu's installation features a six-foot circle of river stones embedded in a concrete base, surrounded by plantings. Visitors are invited to walk barefoot over the stones, and a small, curved bench nearby offers a space for observation and reflection.
The artwork was chosen as the winner of a competition co-organized by the Association for Public Art and the Parkway Council in partnership with the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation department. The coalition’s open call sought proposals that "explore how public art can help create and define a sense of place" in a newly revitalized area, known as The Oval.
The installation is part of a larger initiative to transform the area from a primarily parking-focused space into a thriving, pedestrian-friendly destination. The Oval functions as a pop-up park, offering performances, family-friendly activities, and opportunities to engage with art.
An alum of Tyler’s graduate program in sculpture, Hsu is an interdisciplinary artist who works with visual art, poetry, and language. Her work, informed by her lived experiences as the daughter of a Taiwanese immigrant, often explores themes of distance, displacement, grief, and separation.
Hsu’s winning installation draws inspiration from reflexology footpaths that are commonly seen in Taiwan's public parks. Titled after an essay by the Vietnamese American writer Ocean Vuong, The Weight of Our Living also reflects on the emotional weight that people carry due to grief. As Hsu shared in a recent interview with the Broad Street Review, the installation relates to her own emotional processing of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings that claimed the lives of eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent.
Hsu chose the location in Maja Park for its walkway of trees, which creates dappled light effects on the stones. Visitors will be able to experience the artwork alongside the changing seasons throughout its duration.
The Weight of Our Living is on view at Maja Park, located at 22nd Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, through October 27. Hsu will also present an artist talk at the Asian Arts Initiative on September 17, where she will offer insights on the process of creating her first outdoor site-specific sculpture.