A new mural gallops into Boston

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“You’re painting with a cloud,” said Lawrence-based artist Rixy, as she held a can of spray paint.

Throughout May, Rixy has spent most of her time on a carpet-sized boom lift in the middle of downtown Boston painting a 76-foot-tall mural honoring the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Spray paint is Rixy’s medium of choice. It blends more effortlessly than paint on a paintbrush. With quick up-and-down strokes, she sprayed a can of yellow onto a beige surface. The two colors melted into one continuous gradient.

“I feel like there’s a lot of stigma on spray paint being connected to the streets and crime,” said Rixy, as she blended beige with purple. “Murals deserve the same respect and support. Spray paint and illustration deserve that.”

From a farther vantage point, Rixy’s yellow strokes transform into the feathered gown of her heroine, standing tall with flowing black curls. On the right, a bright blue, defiant horse gallops, embellished with gold and red jewels.

In late February, the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy announced Rixy as the 2026 Dewey Square muralist. Since 2012, the group has selected a new artist nearly every year to paint the distinctly arched 70-foot by 76-foot façade of the Air Intake Structure Building. Rixy is the second local artist to be selected for the mural, after Rob “ProBlak” Gibbs in 2022.

“If you’re a muralist in Boston, this is the wall,” said Rixy.

This year, in partnership with Embrace Boston and Everyone250, the Greenway Conservancy announced an open call for murals that respond to the 250th anniversary of the United States. Rixy’s proposal, “The Midnight Ride,” was unanimously chosen by a panel of local artists and cultural leaders.

The horse-riding character in her mural alludes to historical midnight riders like Paul Revere and Sybil Ludington. Ludington was a lesser-known midnight rider who is said to have ridden around 40 miles on horseback in 1777 to alert American troops of an impending British attack, though there is skepticism about whether the ride occurred.

But the heroine in Rixy’s mural is neither Revere nor Ludington – it is a brown-skinned, warrior-like woman donning a Lady Liberty-esque crown and gown. To Rixy, this figure symbolizes underrepresented social and community activists, especially women, younger people, and Black and brown people. In addition to Ludington, she cited poet Phillis Wheatley as an inspiration.

“What does a monument in America look like for us today?” asked Rixy. “What does being American mean, when we come from so many different places?”

The Roxbury-born artist’s murals can be spotted across Greater Boston, including in Roxbury, Lawrence, Cambridge and Chelsea. Rixy’s fantastical characters come from her self-built universe “Cúcala,” which centers the beauty and power of people of color, drawing on her identity as a Latinx-Caribbean woman.

Rixy intentionally invited a team of two women artists — Ayana Mack and Sagie Vangelina — to help her paint the Dewey Square mural. “I want to support and highlight the women that I’ve been friends with that are also trying to be part of this community.”

As Rixy and her team spray-paint from the lift, passersby wave “hi” from below or stop to ask about the work.

“The most rewarding part are the folks that have stopped by,” said Rixy. “I’m really glad when I hear those comments like, ‘She’s a goddess or a princess,’ ‘Oh, it looks like me,’ you know, Black and brown girls with dark curly hair.”

Even for those who may not understand her mural, Rixy hopes that it will spark dialogue: “If it feels like it doesn’t represent America, then tell me why. Talk to me about this.”

When asked about unfavorable reactions to her mural, Rixy referenced a post from a popular local social media page, Only in Boston. On Instagram, Facebook and X, the account shared an in-progress picture of Rixy’s mural, commenting, “Massachusetts is hosting World Cup matches and America 250 events in a couple weeks and somehow neither theme made the cut for the 70x76 foot wall in the heart of Boston.” The account did not provide additional information about the mural.

The post received hundreds of reactive comments across platforms and has since been taken down from Instagram. Some commented in agreement, expressing confusion and anger, while others rallied in support of the mural, pointing to the figure’s race as the central point of contention and citing Rixy’s original artist statement.

“It’s literally a figurative woman,” Rixy said in response. “Oftentimes, people aren’t really saying it from an informed place. Social media is a very different platform.”

She added, “ I think a lot of the responses I have gotten are thankfully very supportive.”

Meanwhile, Rixy is focused on getting to the finish line. She arrives to the site around 10 a.m. and paints until dusk. She’s so familiar with her design that she spray-paints from memory.

“I’ll get comfortable up here, it’s like your living room,” she said of the lift.

Sometimes she’ll bring a carpet and a bite to eat. She listens to playlists or radio: “Selección,” Yussef Dayes, a mix of jazz, salsa, electronic, metal and rap.

With the exception of rain and thunder, Rixy has been here every day for over a month.

“I’ve just been overwhelmed, crying every day possible while I’m up here,” said Rixy during her first week of painting. “Oftentimes, we don’t get to have such a large voice or get to be heard at such a scale. So it really is such a transformative moment, very monumental.”

Rixy plans to finish the Dewey Square mural before June 10, because soon, she’ll be moving onto her next project in Roxbury: Boston BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival. She is one of 13 participating muralists creating new large-scale murals in the Boston neighborhood.

On June 27, Rixy will return to the Dewey Square mural to host an opening reception for “The Midnight Ride,” with music, art activities and food trucks.