The High Line unveiled plans to present Beyond the Horizon this month, a new artwork by Roma artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, on the billboard adjacent to the park at 18th Street near 10th Avenue. On view since December 9, 2024, through February 2025, Beyond the Horizon offers a vibrant, affirmative depiction of Romani people, countering pervasive negative stereotypes and providing a fresh perspective to the diverse passersby of New York City.
This billboard artwork marks Mirga-Tas’ first public artwork in North America, offering American audiences an opportunity to engage with her nuanced depiction of Roma culture and history following her groundbreaking representation of Poland at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Alongside the newly unveiled Dinosaur, the fourth High Line Plinth commission, this artwork introduces themes that will be explored in High Line Art’s 2025 commissions, addressing timely issues surrounding migration, identity, and marginalization.
Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, said, “It’s an honor and a pleasure for High Line Art to present Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’s warmly crafted representation of the Romani to New York City. I hope the people traversing the High Line and the streets below find resonance and connection with the people journeying on the billboard at 18th Street.”
Beyond the Horizon, part of Mirga-Tas’ On the Journey series, continues the artist’s efforts to reclaim the representation of the Roma people throughout art history. Historically subjected to persecution, the Roma were often depicted in negative, stereotypical ways, particularly in 19th-century engravings by Jacques Callot and Auguste Raffet, who portrayed them as dangerous criminals. In contrast, Mirga-Tas’ artwork presents the Roma community in a positive light, featuring a pastoral, idyllic scene that highlights their dignity and resilience, rather than fear or criminality.
Mirga-Tas, a Roma artist, sculptor, painter, educator, and activist, works with a team of seamstresses to create vivid portraits and scenes using fabrics collected from her family and friends. These works challenge anti-Roma sentiment and offer a new, affirmative vision of Roma communities, particularly focusing on matriarchal family structures and strong female Roma figures.
Mirga-Tas’ selection to represent Poland at the 2022 Venice Biennale was a historic achievement as the first Roma artist to represent any country at the event. Beyond the Horizon follows Untitled (America/Me) by Glenn Ligon in the series of artworks presented at the 18th Street billboard, a location now dedicated exclusively to art. Past artists featured on the billboard include John Baldessari, Faith Ringgold, and Louise Lawler, among many others.
This artwork will remain on view through February 2025, continuing the High Line’s commitment to showcasing diverse and thought-provoking art for the public.
