The Light That Shines Through the Universe

Standing before you is a twenty-seven-foot-tall sandstone monument titled The Light That Shines Through the Universe. Created by artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen, this sculpture serves as a poignant homage to the ancient Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan. Those original colossi were carved into cliffside rock in the sixth century and stood for over a millennium before their destruction in two thousand one. Rather than creating a direct replica, Nguyen designed this freestanding figure to exist as an echo of what was lost, intentionally leaving the back of the sculpture less detailed than the front to emphasize its nature as an imaginative act of memory. The hands of the statue tell a story of transformation. They are cast from melted-down brass artillery shells sourced from the region where the original Buddhas once stood. These metal hands hover slightly away from the sandstone body, supported by steel rods, creating a visible gap that symbolizes both rupture and repair. By repurposing instruments of violence into traditional Buddhist gestures of compassion and fearlessness, the artist invites a dialogue about how cultural heritage persists through collective memory even when physical monuments are erased.