Prism Dedication

Kien Nguyen grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, and has been involved with Mural Arts since 2005 in various roles. This includes working with students in schools around the city, teaching classes and creating murals in the Philadelphia Prison System, and assisting on and designing murals.

This mural is inspired by Nguyen’s many outings to parks and gardens around Philadelphia. The artist’s observations of shadows on leaves as the sun shines through them became the main visual element of this mural. By choosing to use leaf silhouettes of native trees along with those from around the world the artist wanted to reflect not only the diversity of plant life in our area but the diversity of cultures in the neighborhood and Philadelphia as a whole. The leaf varieties and where they are from include: Burr Oak, eastern North America; Sassafras, eastern North America and eastern Asia; Ginkgo Biloba, native to China; Japanese Maple, east Asia; Willow Tree, northern hemisphere including North America, Europe, Asia; Logwood Tree, native to southern Mexico; Jacaranda Tree, native to South America; and Mopane Tree, southern Africa.

MURAL BY: Kien Nguyen Assisted by: Emily White