Vietnamese American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has been selected for the next High Line Plinth commission in New York City. His 27-foot-tall sculpture, titled *The Light That Shines Through the Universe* (2026), will be installed for 18 months starting next spring. The work reimagines one of the Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, incorporating melted brass artillery shells and scrap metal from Afghanistan for the hands, which perform mudra poses of fearlessness and compassion. The sculpture will be fabricated in Vietnam from four sandstone parts and installed at night on the High Line.
This commission matters because it directly addresses cultural erasure and collective memory, connecting a historic act of iconoclasm to contemporary fears of persecution and loss. By reinterpreting a destroyed monument, Nguyen asserts the enduring power of art to resist erasure and foster connection. The piece also marks the tallest High Line Plinth commission to date, and continues Nguyen's practice of engaging with the aftermath of war and colonialism through both sculpture and video installations shown at major institutions like the Whitney Biennial and the New Museum.