Boston's 19-Foot Sculpture Built from Community Wishes

Boston just got its own guardian angel, and it's made from the hopes and dreams of hundreds of residents who turned their wishes into art.

"Amulet" rises 19 feet above City Hall Plaza, a towering sculpture of three bird-like forms wrapped in steel plates. Each plate carries the invisible weight of someone's personal wish, hammered into the metal during community workshops across the city.

Artist Rhea Vedro, who teaches at MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, spent years bringing the vision to life. She invited Bostonians to create "wishmarks" at community centers, asking them to think about journeys and safe passage while working the steel.

The workshops drew people from every corner of life. Vedro met residents facing surgery, dealing with homelessness, grieving loved ones, and navigating immigration challenges. She never asked what their wishes were, giving each person privacy to hammer their hopes into metal.

"I'm really interested in protective objects worn on the skin by humans across cultures," Vedro explained at the December ribbon-cutting ceremony. She wanted to blow up that idea of a personal talisman into something that could protect an entire landscape.

The project became the biggest challenge of Vedro's career. Rather than handing construction to a fabrication team, she welded the massive sculpture herself. She started on her driveway until zoning rules sent her to her father-in-law's warehouse, then to community workshops and finally a Rhode Island industrial studio.

Vedro brought the same attention to detail she uses making jewelry to this steel giant. She designed the flowing shapes by drawing loose bird forms on cement floors with soapstone and pastels, then built them in metal through an intuitive, responsive process.

The sculpture was installed in October in a newly renovated section of the plaza. The December dedication celebration featured musician Veronica Robles and her mariachi band. Robles runs the East Boston cultural center that hosted the main wishmark workshops, closing the circle between artist and community.

The Ripple Effect

The sculpture transforms something deeply personal into something shared by everyone. Hundreds of private hopes now form a public symbol of protection, turning individual struggles and dreams into collective strength. Visitors can stand beneath the towering forms knowing the metal skin holds the wishes of their neighbors, creating an invisible web of connection across Boston's diverse communities.

"Amulet" will stand watch over City Hall Plaza for up to five years, a physical reminder that community strength comes from protecting each other's journeys.