Layqa Nuna Yawar Between the Future Past

Between the Future Past celebrates the abundant diversity of Newark, New Jersey, and the New York metropolitan area. Layqa Nuna Yawar has reimagined the format of a historical mural to reflect an ongoing cycle of time that embraces past, present, and future. Drawing on his indigenous heritage and Kichwa language, he sees the mural as “a looped narrative that can be read from right to left and left to right.” The artwork features native flora and fauna, emphasizing nature as a symbol of growth. It is populated by a wide range of individuals across time, culture, race, and gender, highlighting narratives of personal accomplishment and perseverance that have often been overlooked. People brought by successive waves of global migration, including those from Black, Brown, Asian, and Middle Eastern backgrounds, as well as Indigenous people, are represented in this expansive vision. From airport workers to poets to LGBTQ+ heroes, Layqa Nuna Yawar’s mural rethinks who should be celebrated publicly, proposing that all individuals are equally remarkable in their humanity.

Mural Models: Julia Relis, Kimberly O’Neal, Enrique Outeiral, Nathaniel Quaye, Yeimy Gamez Castillo and Mathyias “Laughing Wolf” Ellis
Studio: Diego Molina, Kelley Prevard, Andrece Brady, Jill Cohen-Nuñez, Carolina Acevedo, Jan Kathleen, Tyler Cala, Monet Sheard, Rebecca Gual
Photography: Chrystofer Davis, Leslie Cabrera, Melissa Garcia-Parra
Research: Noelle Lorraine Williams, Rafael Osorio
Consulting: Bridgett Cruz and Michael Hew Wing
Graphic Design: Manuel Sanchez

Extending our core mission to present dynamic exhibitions by the world’s most compelling artists and make culture accessible to all, Public Art Fund: Creative Partnerships brings strategic planning, curatorial, project management, and communications expertise to leading cultural institutions, corporations, and civic organizations across the globe. Through these collaborations, Public Art Fund commissions permanent installations and temporary exhibitions in line with the unique vision of our partners and the specific parameters of each site, resulting in new artworks that activate public spaces, create engaged constituencies, and amplify the impact of our partners’ own initiatives through the power of public art.

Public Art Fund was invited by Munich Airport NJ and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to realize the two monumental, site-specific commissions. They may be encountered on multiple levels and at various points in a traveler’s journey through the terminal. Extending across the arrivals hall, Layqa Nuna Yawar’s vibrant 350-foot mural, Between the Future Past, celebrates the abundant diversity of Newark, New Jersey—from local flora and fauna to influential identities past and present.

The artworks by Layqa Nuna Yawar are commissioned by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and Munich Airport NJ, in partnership with Public Art Fund.