I’ve been reflecting on the haunting presence of “Salsal,” the new 27-foot sandstone monument by Tuan Andrew Nguyen currently standing at the High Line in NYC. An homage to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the sculpture is a profound meditation on what it means to lead with humanity in a fractured world.
The original 6th-century Buddhas of Bamiyan were subjected to centuries of iconoclastic destruction, having their faces and hands hacked away by various conquerors. The Taliban finished the job with dynamite in 2001.
Nguyen bridges this tragedy, centuries in the making, with modern trauma by drawing a direct line between the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam. For Nguyen, the sculpture is not just a replica, but a "vessel of memory" transmuting the heavy, metallic remnants of war (salvaged artillery shells) into a spiritual inquiry that transcends time and borders.
Photo: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
The Missing Face: Lost Humanity
For me the most haunting feature of the sculpture is the "incomplete" face. A chilling visual metaphor for our current global state. In an era often defined by ideological polarization and the "defacing" of the other, the void reminds us how easily we can lose our shared humanity.
When we let material greed or conflict erode core spiritual values, unconditional love and compassion, we effectively become spiritually blinded. The sculpture suggests that we are at a point where the "other" is no longer seen as a reflection of ourselves, but as a blank space onto which we project our fears.
Yet, within this haunting silence, the floating steel hands offer the opportunity for transformation.
The hands, tools of action and healing, are the most "finished" and contemporary part of the sculpture. They serve as a bridge between the ancient and the modern, proving that even the most jagged remnants of war can be melted down and reshaped into vessels of grace.
Photo: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
They present us with a choice: to remain transfixed by the hollowed-out face of global failures, or to follow the lead of these monumental palms, which remind us that the power to heal is literally in our hands. This work asks us to recognize where we have lost our shared humanity. It gives us a path forward to redeem our global culture as well as our personal one.
In this light, the sculpture becomes less a monument to loss and more a catalyst for a "New Transcendentalism," where unconditional love and compassion is not something we wait to see reflected in a face, but something we choose to manifest through the work of our own lives.
How are you using your "hands" to reshape the narrative in your life and community today?
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