Oswald’s Ocean
exterior paint on a 12 ft. tall fiberglass sculpture.
One of six painted Muñeca Sin Rostro (Faceless Dolls) at Palmer Cover Park in Salem, Massachusetts, a placemaking sculptural project and creative educational arts initiative launched by the Punto Urban Art Museum (PUAM), a social justice arts program of North Shore Community Development Coalition (NSCDC).
Completed June 12, 2025.
In 2021, Punto Urban Art Museum with Salem Maritime National Historic Site held over 15 workshops inviting residents of Salem’s Point neighborhood (El Punto) to create their own Muñeca sin Rostro, paper versions of the iconic ceramic dolls from the Dominican Republic. Over 150 participants reflected on their own identities & created over 200 dolls both in person & online, sharing their cultures, histories, and personal stories.
My muñeca is based on a design created by Oswald & his mom. Oswald, who was 4 at the time, wrote about his muñeca:
I am 4 years old, and I love the color blue and sea life. I also added blue glitter to the hat, and my doll has black hair like mine. She is also carrying blue flowers.
I love seeing kids get excited about the world around them and use art to deepen their connection to the things they love, so I wanted to bring Oswald’s muñeca to life with a full ocean scene filled with every shade of blue. I included all the animals he included on his original doll (octopus, starfish, seahorse) except the whale because it’d unfortunately be too big. I also included several other animals, like the great white shark, sea turtles, cownose ray, purple-striped jelly, barred angelfish (because Oswald said angelfish were his favorite), clownfish, and surgeonfish.
Oswald, now 7, and his 9 year old sister Yaitziri came and visited me nearly every day I painted, bringing me snacks, water, and even a Happy Meal toy as a gift. I invited them to help me paint my muñeca, and they did an awesome job filling in the ocean blues & even adding their own animals: two starfish (one big and one small) (because Yaitziri is big and Oswald is small, as Yaitziri helpfully explained to me), a green seahorse that I helped Oswald draw but he filled in & drew the face, and a red seahorse that Yaitziri did all by herself from start to finish.
