Liminal Intent

Mural on Governors Island Vessel Bridges Land, Sea, and Sky

The Harbor Charger, the ferry that connects Lower Manhattan with Governors Island, is sporting a new art piece: “Spring Migration,” by painter Anna Valdez. The 100-foot long image, which covers the entire exterior wall of the ferry’s superstructure, depicts bird species both resident (the Peregrine Falcon) and migratory (the Baltimore Oriole, the Orchard Oriole, and the Magnolia Warbler).

In a reference to the Peregrine Falcon’s near-extinction and subsequent return to New York skies, Ms. Valdez says, “it feels like a mirror of Governors Island’s own rebirth, from a restricted military base to a thriving green space used by visitors as a place of respite as well as a cultural hub.”

All of the birds are shown against a background of digitally manipulated photographs of Governors Island’s landscapes. “Creating this mural began as most of my works typically do,” Ms. Valdez says. “I began by pulling from my reference drawings, photographs, historical documents, and found objects into a format that communicates an abstract temporality. I also decided to lean into the role of a ferry as a liminal space bridging land, sea, and sky. I see my artwork transforming the vessel into a floating island, opening a portal to the destination before the passenger arrives. Ultimately, ‘Spring Migration’ functions as a representation of the social, artistic, geographic narratives to be found on the island.”

“Spring Migration” will remain on the Harbor Charger through next year, and is part of an expanding set of art offerings at Governors Island, including Chakaia Booker’s “Brick House,” a sculptural installation wrought from salvaged tires (right; on display at Colonel’s Row), and “The Oyster,” Mohawk artist Alan Michelson’s amphitheater-like work that “reflects on the parallel erasures of Indigenous lifeways and oyster ecologies in the harbor” (coming in July to the island’s Western Promenade).

Visitors to Governors Island will encounter tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art instal­la­tions and exhi­bi­tions, and more than two dozen arts and cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions in the island’s his­toric hous­es.