Find your Wings: Art Installation on the Green

By Joe McVeigh

Find your Wings

Near the southeast corner of the church, on the Green, in the direction of the Middlebury soldier’s monument you will find a new art installation. The art work, called Self(ie) Reflection, is part of a community-led public art installation project called Find Your Wings. The piece by local artist Matt Heywood is a take-off of the popular selfies that appear to give the person in the picture a set of wings. Matt says, ““I’ve taken the Find Your Wings theme rather literally. Selfie wings are iconic and wildly popular. People love to see themselves in an inspiring way, emerging beyond the limits of their ordinary life.” 

Heywood explains that the idea behind Self(ie)-reflection was to take selfie wings off the wall and create an immersive experience. The pair of wings arc gracefully toward each other offering a clear invitation but without specific rules about how to fly with the piece. Locally-salvaged materials have been transformed into “feathers” covering the exterior. The interior reveals a gridded mosaic of reflective surfaces, created with help from the community. The overall effect is intended to stir mindfulness about how we each move through this blended life; digital and real; individual and whole.