NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A new monument honoring pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly opened on Roosevelt Island Friday morning.
“The Girl Puzzle” monument, named after Bly’s first published work, features a representation of the journalist and four other faces depicting a diverse range of women.
“This monument, with its five faces representing the broad diversity of so many women, will provide a poignant educational and meaningful destination for visitors to reflect on our shared history and remember that women's rights are human rights,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
According to Hochul’s office, faces in “The Girl Puzzle” will seem to be in pieces, while others appear to have had cracks repaired, to represent “the prevalence of women being broken by the world around them yet, having the strength to repair themselves.”
Engraved behind each face are words written by Bly that will also represent “the spirit and complexity of women and their stories.”
At the center of the monument, visitors will see three silver globes honoring Bly’s work as a journalist starting at a local Pittsburgh newspaper to later making headlines in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World.
While the art installment is named after Bly’s first published work, Bly’s most celebrated work, “Ten Days in a Mad-House,” is considered to be the first piece of investigative journalism.
The monument was installed on Roosevelt Island, as it was the location of the problematic Blackwell Island Asylum – where Bly was admitted to after feigning insanity to investigate conditions.
The monument was designed by Amanda Matthews, of Prometheus Art, who hailed Bly as a “transformative figure in modern history.”
“She dedicated her life to understanding the plight of those who exist in the margins and dismantling systems of oppression,” Matthews said. “She is best known as a champion for women and girls and opposed the notion of women as subordinate by powerfully rewriting this narrative.”
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