City Hall Galleries
The galleries at Boston City Hall promote and exhibit the work of Boston area artists.
You can find information about the galleries, as well as what's currently showing, on this page.
Exhibits | July 29th - September 6th, 2024
ExhibitsLocation: The Mayor’s Neighborhood Gallery, 2nd Floor
This year, Photography Collective has partnered with Northeastern University to explore the impact of urban renewal and planning on Black homeownership in Boston through the Unsettled Accounts Project. Students researched the history by interacting with those who lived it- listening to their stories and interviewing them to learn more. They also browsed archival materials that further contextualized the concepts of home and belonging for people of color living in Boston. Lastly, they met with the storytellers from the Unsettled Accounts Project to create portraits of them, utilizing the tool of photography to preserve the history of Boston and its community members.
During Photography Collective’s time learning about the Unsettled Accounts project, members of the program created a collective zine that explores history, hegemony and hope within our shared city. This zine can be viewed online at www.icateens.org
“Unsettled Accounts” is an oral history project that seeks to advance understanding of Black land ownership and unjust takings in recent Boston history. In addition to preserving oral histories that help fill knowledge and information gaps, the project is creating a digital archive with public access, co-hosting public events with community-based partners, and engaging Bostonians of all ages to impact policy conversations and initiatives for reparative justice at local, state, and national levels.
To learn more about this project please contact teens@icaboston.org
Location: The Scollay Square Gallery, 3rd Floor
Addressing cultural experiences and challenges, emphasizing the shared understandings of constant migration, each artist actively advocates for minorities, providing valuable insights into resilience, solidarity, and the power of cultural preservation.
The exhibition features works by Flor Delgadillo, Marla Mcleod, Iaritza Menjivar, Nikki Silva, Ravjot Mehek Singh, Rebecca Wakkim.
To learn more about this exhibition please contact Flor Delgadillo at delgadillo.artes@gmail.com.
Location: The Mayor’s Office Gallery, 5th Floor
The Academy of Realist Art Boston, established in the historic Leather District in 2009, is a distinguished art academy proudly representing and continuing Boston's realist art traditions. The Academy prides itself in its nurturing environment where students of all backgrounds and skill levels are encouraged and in its diverse, accomplished instructors. The curriculum is modeled after 19th-century French art academies, where students receive individualized practical instruction to achieve the highest level of technical draftsmanship and painting skills. The intensive and focused teaching methodology has a proven record of success with students of all skill levels.
To learn more about this exhibition please email academyofrealistartboston@gmail.com
Location: The Mayor’s Office Gallery Display Case, 5th Floor
As an experimental fiber and mixed media artist, Anna Fubini creates sculptural installations that delve into themes of duality and deconstruction. Her work is driven by a fascination with uncontrollable materials, which she embraces to uncover their intrinsic forms through techniques like twisting wire and yarn, hand-dyeing with natural dyes, and other experimental methods. By weaving elements of expressionism, abstraction, and surrealism, she aims to reflect the complexity of thoughts and emotions, transforming the mundane into something strikingly strange and beautifully flawed. She strives to connect the physical and mental realms, inviting viewers to confront and reflect upon their own experiences.
La Comedia is a multimedia project developed in collaboration with A Priori Duo and Jessica Bloch, exploring the evolution of stock characters through costumes and masks from the Commedia and Shakespearean eras. Each mask, crafted from fabric and yarn and sealed with epoxy resin, represents a character and their historical transformations. These masks symbolize the transformative power of identity and the ongoing relevance of these characters’ emotional truths, which continue to resonate in our contemporary world. The project integrates art, music, and performance to illuminate enduring human themes of love, longing, sorrow, and hope, transcending time and societal masks.
To learn more about this exhibition please visit ww.annafubini.com or email agfubini@gmail.com
Location: The Emerging Gallery, 8th Floor
Long-term installations
Exhibits- Location: 3rd Floor Mezzanine, Boston City Hall
- Dates: Ongoing
We Belong is a light-based public art installation with the intent to promote ideas of belonging and inclusion among communities in Boston. In LED neon, the work forms the text “We Belong – here – together – guided by the same stars” in a circular format, with a constellation that maps and connects Boston’s neighborhoods.
With the support of a City of Boston Transformative Public Art grant, the installation will travel to multiple Boston neighborhoods in 2022-2023, beginning with the East Boston Social Centers from July-September 2022. Local residents are invited to participate in the project by sharing what the concept of “belonging” means to them.
Yu-Wen Wu is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Boston. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Wu’s subjectivity as an immigrant is central to her artwork. Arriving in the United States at an early age, her experiences have shaped her work in areas of migration—examining issues of displacement, arrival, assimilation, and the shape of identity in a new country. Passionate about data, mapping, and its storytelling, Wu’s work lies at the crossroads of art, science, politics, and social issues. Her wide range of projects include large-scale drawings, sculpture, site- specific video installations, community-engaged practices, and public art. Wu has been awarded numerous grants, exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is included in several private and public collections.
The Mayor's Poetry Program is an annual program in which Boston residents are invited to submit poems to be displayed throughout City Hall and in an online gallery for one year. The theme for 2024, selected by Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola, was "Resistance".
All poems are displayed next to the elevators on the south side of Boston City Hall, except two noted below, which are located at the north side elevators.
First floor- Sam K Yoon, "Soup"
- Danielle Fontaine, "Praise"
-
Katya Zinn, "Dog in a Graveyard"
- Frances Sharples, "Fingerpainting" (North Elevator)
- Quintin Collins, "Remember, God Called Job Down To Answer For His Crimes"
- Sarah Nnenna Loveth, "Imperialism" (North Elevator)
- Anna-Celestrya Carr, "Dyslexics Of The World"
- Ming Li Wu, "Parajito"
- Zoe Gadegbeku, "Living Rhyme"
- Petra Dankova, "Little Girl In Hub Resistance"
- Mariona Lloreta, "Arabesque"
- Ida Rahimi, "The Only Way Out Is The Way Through"
- Cheryl Clark Vermeulen, "Goths At A Cemetery"
- Ali Tervo, "Stretch Marks"
- Myles Taylor, "I Put My Makeup On In The Car"
Gallery locations
Mayor's Art Gallery
The Mayor's Gallery exhibits work by Boston area artists who have received recognition for their artwork through grants, awards and other types of public display.
Directions: It's located on the 5th floor of City Hall. From City Hall Plaza or Congress St. entrances, take South Elevators to the 5th floor, follow signs to Mayor's Office: signage marks the gallery entrance. If you are planning to attend an opening you must enter from Congress Street.
Mayor’s Neighborhood Gallery
Directions: Located on the 2nd floor near the South Elevators. From City Hall Plaza or Congress St. entrances, take South Elevators to the 2nd floor.
Scollay Square Gallery
The Scollay Square Gallery showcases the many arts organizations and artists community groups that support local artists throughout the City.
Directions: It's located on the 3rd floor/main lobby of City Hall. When entering from Congress St, take elevators to 3rd floor, proceed through lobby, passing the information desk on your right. The gallery is ahead of you. When entering from City Hall Plaza, proceed through lobby, passing the information desk on your right. The gallery is ahead of you. Signage marks the gallery entrance. If you are planning to attend an opening you must enter from Congress Street.
The Emerging GalleryThis is the newest of City Hall's galleries. It showcases Boston's up and coming artists.
Directions: It is located on the 8th floor of City Hall. When entering from Congress Street or Cambridge Street, take the elevators to the 8th floor. The gallery is in the hallway to the left of Room 801, which is perpendicular to the elevators.
Videos
Maya Erdelyi's Gallery Tour
Artist Maya Erdelyi gives a tour of her show in the Mayor's Gallery and her mural on the 8th floor.
Real F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Artist Talk with Jamaal Eversley and Beacon Gallery
This exhibit was on display in the Mayor's Gallery of Boston City Hall from November - December 2020.
Recurring Programs
Fay Chandler Emerging Artist Awards
These annual awards recognize fresh, original and contemporary works of art created by Boston artists.
National Arts Program
The City of Boston's National Arts Program invites City of Boston employees and their immediate family members to submit artwork every year.
Gallery Highlights
Re-imagine City Hall
In honor of Boston City Hall’s 50th anniversary in February 2019, we sent out a call artists to reimagine and redesign the exterior of City Hall.
National Arts Program 2018
As part of this program, City of Boston employees and immediate family members were invited to display their art.
'Alone Together: Photos' by Jerry Russo
An examination of people while confined to the crowded spaces of the MBTA.
Boston Public Schools Youth Arts Month Festival
Each year we showcase the work of young Boston Public Schools artists from across the district.
'The Art of Science'
"The Art of Science" featured artists who work in new media, including Michael Moss and Claudia Ravaschiere's piece "Precious", an interactive mixed-media sound installation.
'A Summer Proposal'
Paul C. Ha invited eight Boston and Cambridge-based artists to create work for Boston City Hall, keeping in mind the building's architecture.
