“Mother Hale’s Garden” (2013)

“Mother Hale’s Garden” (2013)

AP African American Studies Guide

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Topic 4.4

Shinique Smith, “Mother Hale’s Garden” (2013)

An abstract multicolored mural above a bus depot, with a blue and white bus pulling into the depot in the right foreground


Mother Hale’s Garden (2013) © Shinique Smith, MTA Bus Company Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design. Photo: Eric Wolfe.

Smith’s “Mother Hale’s Garden,” on the bus depot named in her honor, is inspired by the loving and generous nature of Mother Clara Hale who, for more than fifty years, cared for children—orphaned, sick, and from broken homes—and helped transform their live. Learn more about this piece and view more photographs on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority website.