Tuan Andrew Nguyen's sandstone and brass sculpture "The Light That Shines Through the Universe" (2026) has been installed on the High Line in Manhattan as the park's fifth site-specific commission. The 27-foot-tall work, selected from nearly 60 proposals, resurrects the destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan, which were demolished by the Taliban in 2001. Nguyen sourced artillery brass from Afghanistan to cast the sculpture's mudra hand gestures, symbolizing fearlessness and compassion, and had the sandstone carved in Vietnam. The piece is on view through Spring 2027.
This commission matters because it directly confronts themes of cultural destruction, memory, and resilience in a public space. By recreating an echo of the Bamiyan Buddhas—a UNESCO-recognized symbol of intercultural exchange lost to iconoclasm—Nguyen's work invites reflection on how history repeats and how art can preserve stories across time and conflict. High Line curator Cecilia Alemani noted that the sculpture's relevance has only grown amid ongoing violence in the Middle East, underscoring the power of art to speak to contemporary crises.