There's nothing like a wall of flowers to transform a city playground into a garden. It's called Botanical Pulse on 10th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.
"I think it's beautiful," one man said. "I really like the flowers and all the colors. The white and the yellow kind of pop out."
The mural went up in June.
Last week, a second mural was finished a few blocks away on 45th Street. That's where the artist turned to a wall of roots to depict strength.
"I think it's really powerful," another man said. "It has a sense of grounding in New York City, a city where you don't have a lot of greenery and it kind of brings you back to your roots."
The two murals were commissioned by the non-profit group Yourban2030. Their mission runs deeper than street art. The paintings are inspired by 17 goals set forth by the United Nations.
The flowers are about life on land. The roots represent justice for all.
Yourban2030 hopes to paint all 17 UN goals around the city.
"The mission is simple, but ambitious: to transform the walls of the city into an open museum and a reminder of climate change and humanitarian issues that we encounter on a daily basis," said Tati Baramia of Yourban2030.
Beyond beauty and meaning, there's also an ecological component. All the paint used, Eyewitness News is told, is actually good for the environment.
"We're only using a special paint called Airlite, and Airlite absorbs car exhaust and breaks down the carbon," Baramia said. "Based on the size of the murals, they will be absorbing the exhaust of 43 cars a day for the next 10 years."
For New Yorkers enjoying the new views, there's therapy in art.
"If you have beauty around you, it helps encourage the inside of your mind to be beautiful too," one woman said.
There are 15 more paintings to go.
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