Unseen

Unseen, a new mural by Manuela Viera-Gallo, marks Instituto de Visión’s first collaboration in New York City with the Chilean artist—born in Rome and a true New Yorker at heart.

Created in ephemeral sawdust, Unseen explores the quiet, often overlooked acts of giving and resilience embodied by women. The mural features four nude figures, each captured in a ritual gesture of offering. These figures symbolize vulnerability, strength, and the sacred beauty of everyday labor. Through this work, Viera-Gallo invites viewers to acknowledge the invisible forces—care, endurance, and grace—that sustain us.
Sawdust, a humble byproduct of wood, serves as a metaphor for transformation, impermanence, and renewal. Just as women carry the cycles of life, sawdust reflects themes of fragility and endurance—mirroring the power of the feminine. This intimate meditation on memory and unseen presence urges us to look beyond the visible and to honor what is often left unrecognized.