The Embrace — Attraction in Boston

In Boston Common, amid bare winter trees and wandering tourists taking selfies, stands one of public art's more perplexing recent additions: "The Embrace," a 20-foot-tall bronze sculpture that manages to simultaneously inspire and confound. Created by Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group in 2022, this monument to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King's love story has become Boston's own Rorschach test of sculptural intention.

From certain angles, the massive bronze arms and hands create a powerful, abstractly tender moment. From others - well, let's just say social media has had a field day with less charitable interpretations. The sculpture's ambitious cropping, showing only the embracing arms without heads or bodies, leaves viewers doing mental gymnastics worthy of an Olympic qualifier.

The technical execution is undeniably masterful. The patinated bronze surface catches light like silk, creating a warm, living quality that somehow makes twenty feet of disembodied limbs feel intimate, even creepy. The hands, detailed down to the fingernails and a delicate beaded bracelet, demonstrate craftsmanship that would make Renaissance sculptors slow-clap in appreciation.

But there's an elephant in the park - or rather, several missing body parts missing from the park. The radical decision to focus solely on the embrace, while conceptually bold, creates a permanent game of artistic peek-a-boo. Visitors circle the piece like puzzled art historians, tilting their heads and squinting, trying to mentally complete the figures like an anatomical Mad Libs.

Yet perhaps this is precisely the point. In our era of instant understanding and swipeable art, "The Embrace" demands more. It requires us to physically move around it, to engage with its complexity, to sit with our discomfort and find meaning in the spaces between what we expect and what we see. It's public art that refuses to be a mere backdrop for Instagram stories.

For visitors seeking literal representation, this may not be your cup of Boston Harbor tea. But for those willing to embrace its challenges, the sculpture offers a potentially profound meditation on love, memory, and the parts of history we choose to highlight.

Rating: ★★★★☆ Tips for visitors: Best viewed at sunset when the bronze really glows. Bring a friend; you'll want someone to debate "wait, which way are they facing?" with.

Location: Boston Common Price: Free, though the mental geometry required to reconstruct the full figures might cost you a few...

After reading about the 20' tall, 25" wide and 19 ton bronze sculpture, its controversial history, $10 million price tag and having a fascination with sculpture and architecture and being in the area, I had to investigate for myself. You can actually step into the center of it. It sits in its own spot surrounded by a small wall and places to sit. I couldn't find any signs of the welding and I could feel the bumps of what was supposed to be the sleeves. I knocked on it once and it sounded like the metal Christmas 🎄 Tree that Linus knocks on from "A Charlie Brown Christmas ". It is interesting and it does draw a crowd. But I am still not seeing what the designer is trying to convey. It is privately funded but could the $ have been spent more effectively elsewhere. If you visit the area, I would say check it out and see what...

LOVE. EQUITY. JUSTICE.

Five years in the making, The Embrace is a reflection of Boston’s diversity – standing bold and beautiful as a symbol of Boston’s rich history and expansive cultural community.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King met in Boston in 1952. The Embrace is a memorial to their love and leadership. Inspired by a photograph of the Kings embracing, it reflects the power of collective action, the role of women in the freedom movement, and the forging of solidarity out of mutual empathy and...