Concrete Hearts of Manhattan
In poetic gesture of looking for love, Concrete Hearts of Manhattan is an artistic journey to find and document the symbolic hearts of lovers inscribed in the cement sidewalks of New York City and to uncover their hidden love stories.
Have you carved a concrete heart? Share your love story!Above is a short video accompanied by original music that introduces the project.
Art conceived and produced by Meg Lyding.
Video filmed and edited by William Heuberger.
Song written, produced, and performed by Meg Lyding
Concrete Hearts of Manhattan: A Love Story is an on-going multi-media art project to find and photograph the symbolic hearts inscribed in the city’s cement sidewalks and to uncover their hidden love stories.
A personal search for love, a unique portrait of love, and a love story to the city itself, Concrete Hearts of Manhattan is a meditation on our most meaningful connections in life as seen through a massive street art piece unknowingly made by thousands of participants who left their hearts throughout the city.
A wet concrete slab is initially available as a sort of canvas before solidifying into a public walkway. Inevitably someone marks the pristine surface. A large percentage of these markings are declarations of love. The sidewalk becomes a lover’s ‘walk of fame,’ solidifying sentiments into concrete permanence and scattering hearts at our feet. Whether only a memory or still pulsing with life, the desire is to rescue these hearts from the sidewalk, resuscitate their intention, and give them new life in the photographic image.
Currently, every sidewalk between 14th St. and Houston St. has been photographed with roughly 102 miles walked and 1182 hearts found. Those who inscribed a heart at any location within Manhattan are now sought to share their heart love stories.
About the Artist
Meg Lyding is a visual artist and musician who makes work about intimacy, vulnerability, and connection with interest in the therapeutic benefit and social impact of creative expression. Her multi-disciplinary practice results in projects that speak through a combination of photography, video, music, and essay. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from The New School's Parsons School of Design.
Meg’s artwork has been exhibited in New York City at the Aronson Gallery, United Photo Industries, and Photoville Festival, and internationally at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in Pingyao, China, the Head-On Photography Festival in Sydney, Australia, and the Indian Photography Festival in Hyderabad, India. In 2014, her work was included in a photography and poetry book, Love + Lust, published by Open to Interpretation.
As a musician, Meg was a co-writer on a 2020 Grammy Award winning music therapy-based children's album and wrote a children's choral piece that premiered at Radio City Music Hall. Recently, Meg also wrote and performed the song, Follow Your Heartbeat, for the project, Concrete Hearts of Manhattan. Furthermore, as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Meg works therapeutically with sound and music offering regular live events and workshops. In 2019, she founded Make a Wave Productions LLC as a way to integrate her creative and therapeutic endeavors in positive contribution and service.
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