GREENVILLE — It’s time to bid farewell to the public art display “Wings of the City” that, for the past six months, has decorated downtown with appreciation and protest.
The nine-piece, avian-human hybrid statue exhibit will be moved to Raleigh in October, but advocates hope by springtime a replica version of the display’s main attraction — the giant, picturesque pair of wings known as “Wings of Mexico" — could become a permanent fixture.
The city of Greenville and the Upstate Hispanic Alliance are in conversation about commissioning Mexican artist Jorge Marin to make a replica of his original wing sculpture, using a portion of the approximately $70,000 raised by hundreds of donors in support of the statues after its initial $7,500 in tourism-related tax money was pulled.
"If we were to commission a piece from Jorge Marin, it would take approximately two to three months to have it ready," Hispanic Alliance director Adela Mendoza told The Post and Courier and Sept. 27 following an event in Falls Park to bid farewell. "So, our hope is that we can have a spring announcement in 2022."
To keep the statue, the alliance and the city would need to get Marin to agree to create another one. More funds would be needed and the wings might not remain at the falls, Mendoza said.
A statue in Jorge Marin's "Wings of the City" exhibit, which is set to leave Greenville for Raleigh in October. Stephanie Mirah/Staff
The Hispanic Alliance, city and county officials, sponsors and more gathered around Marin's two huge bronze wings to share their gratitude for the exhibit, commend the power of the community to overcome obstacles, and ultimately say goodbye to the statues as they head to Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh for the next six months.
Attention for the statues was never in short supply during their short stint in Greenville. Since the "Wings of the City" launched its website in March, it has received almost 50,000 visits. An estimated 400,000 people have visited the exhibit.
Even with a majority supporting the public exhibition, a small faction voiced concerns to both the city and the county that the partially clothed, beaked statues were sexually suggestive and demonic. The city defended the exhibit but the protests prompted a split County Council to pull the exhibit’s funding.
Hispanic Alliance director Adela Mendoza at the "Wings of the City" goodbye ceremony on Sept. 27, 2021. Stephanie Mirah/Staff
The exhibit received more than nine times the funding it expected to receive from the county in private donations.
"This was really a labor of love from our community to us," communications and marketing director for the Hispanic Alliance Sara Montero-Buria said.
Most donors did not have a preference of how to spend the money, while others wanted their funds to go toward marketing efforts. The unassigned portion of funds could be used to pay for the replica.
Mendoza said the Greenville community engaged in positive dialogues because of the wings and that "we all have been strengthened by it."
Nathaniel Cary and Eric Connor contributed to this report.
