In New York City, one can uncover joy, resilience, and pearls of wisdom around any corner. There is no greater embodiment of this spirit of discovery than the High Line’s third High Line Originals commission, Alicia Mersy’s NYC Wisdom (2024). With her camera and curiosity as a conduit for connection, Mersy spontaneously gathered “wisdom” she encountered around the city—all from an electrifying collection of New Yorkers from all walks of life.

On the evening of September 10, 2024, following the global premiere of NYC Wisdom on the High Line, Alicia Mersy spoke with Ali Rosa-Salas, VP of Visual and Performing Arts at Abrons Art Center/Henry Street Settlement (and born-and-bred New Yorker). Together, they pulled back the curtain on Mersy’s creative process, her profound love for her neighbors, and the city she calls home.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ali Rosa-Salas (ARS): Thank you so much for the invitation to be part of this special event, this special moment in your life, [Alicia]. The spirit of generosity and hospitality is just who you are, and is so deeply felt in the film and the audience here tonight. I love seeing so many of the subjects of the film here with us. I know folks are here—those who are here, if you feel comfortable raising your hands, we could also celebrate you.

[Several people raise their hands to audience applause.]

Wow—a lot of folks! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us. It is deeply felt…

I wore my favorite New York hat in honor of this event, and that’s where I want to begin our conversation. What I love about this project is how New York City is illuminated, and how New Yorkers are really amplified as divine keepers of wisdom. The city itself is a main character in the work—it feels like a spirit just enveloping the whole project. So I’m just curious to know: Why this quest for wisdom? It builds on a body of work of yours of talking to New Yorkers. Why this quest and why New York City? What do you think New York City has to offer and why is it an ideal host for this kind of quest?

Alicia Mersy (AM): Thank you so much. First of all, thank you so much for coming. It makes me so happy to see everyone, and I feel just so blessed and full of joy. I’m also very nervous. Thank you, Ali, for real, for doing this, because you’re the one who also nominated me [for High Line Originals], so it’s like a full circle for me. And you were one of the first people I met in New York, which is crazy, like eight years ago. And you’re also from here, born here, raised here. So it makes so much sense that it’s you doing this [conversation].

To answer your question about why New York, I think it’s where I am now and where I’ve spent the past almost eight years, and it has become my home. I have my family and everything. I’ve been thinking about this the last couple of weeks, having this realization sometimes when I walk the streets—I think New York has almost like a kind of a purple-pink light that’s at the heart of the city. Imagine if New York is like the Earth, and there’s this crazy, very warm light. And the light is being spread, and everyone has a particle of it, you know. Everyone carries that energy in their own way. I feel like our purpose as people either living here, people who are born and raised, people who immigrate, or people who pass through is just to spread back or to, you know, circle, that energy or that light. That’s what I was trying to do. In my life, I just want to pay attention to the details, look people in the eyes, shake hands, and see what I can learn from them, because I know that there are big things that I can learn and then pass on.

ARS: Thank you for providing such a perfect segue for my next question. It’s clear to me, in all of your work—and just inherent to your practice as a human who expresses that through art—is a connection with other human beings, a really intentional, deep, meaningful, curious connection. I’ve experienced it as a collaborator and friend, and I am witnessing it unfold in this work. There’s such a diversity of perspectives and people represented in this work… and a level of intimacy in where the conversations go. So I’m curious to learn a bit more about your process—how do you cultivate relationships with the folks you’re collaborating with? What’s that process like for you as a director and an artist?

AM: I think it’s very different…with some people, I visit every day versus some people I see when I can, because, you know, we’re busy and I wish I could see them more. A lot of people in the film have become friends and “therapists,” and people that, if I ever left New York, I would feel it would be so sad. The film is something that represents years of research… it’s a long time… it is not just the past couple of months that I’ve been thinking about it, it’s been going on for a while—

ARS: Alicia, just to interject, when we were talking, you were saying that you met, I forget the subject who says, “Be original. If you’re being like me, you’re being a follower…” I needed to hear that. But you were saying how you were in Times Square and you saw him. And you’re like, “I want to talk to him.” But can you talk a little bit about that: how you connect with the subjects?

AM: It’s like attraction, you know. There’s like a vibration… I’m feeling something in my body that is telling me, “Okay, you have to sit and speak with this person in order to learn or be schooled, with love.” Especially this last year, it was pretty much super selfish, but a kind of therapy for me to make sense of the world. For example, Joy, the person in Times Square. He’s an example of a person I met very recently, and how it happened was kind of a sign that I had to meet him. [The first time I saw him] he was hanging out with his friends and I felt like he was busy, so I didn’t interrupt. And then I came back two or three hours later and he was alone and I told him I was making a little film about the wisdom that’s in New York. He said, “What? We’re not in New York!” And I knew that I needed to sit with him.

ARS: Well, bringing it back to New York, because the film is about that, and I love being a New Yorker. What is also so evident and evocative and just jumps out for me in this project and a throughline with so much of your work is personal style. Each of the subjects in this project has a specific, really unique embodiment of personal style. To me, personally, I feel like this is the New York City aesthetic. I just want to hear you talk about the visual culture of New York City, how it inspires you, and what your relationship is to it and to this project.

AM: I think it’s actually Henry Wong, the person in the hardware store. He was talking to me about this and he said it’s a spiritual thing—how we like to dress—because this is a way to form a connection. And sometimes, if, let’s say, you put on your special crystal earrings or, you know, your flashy beautiful sweater that your mom gave to you, whatever it is, it’s going to help you meet someone. You know, it could make you or make someone stop and talk and learn. I mean, of course, we all love beautiful things and beautiful people, but I think that’s really what it is. There is something that’s like energy, like how we decide to leave the house every morning, and we care and put love into it. So I think I was trying to highlight that. Every one of you knows how special the details of New York are. When we’re not on our phones and we decide to do Harlem all the way to Coney Island. I mean, that’s the museum, that’s the class. I feel like you can feel the magic.

ARS: Wow. I love that. I have one more question for you. I’m hearing the sirens and looking out and thinking, “What a beautiful summer.” It’s still summer, I choose to believe. But we’re on the High Line, right? We’re outdoors. We’re in a public place that is very specific to the culture of New York City and just the foot traffic that’s going to come through this place is really exciting, I’m sure, for you as an artist. I’m curious to hear just more about that, like you knowing that this is a project that’s going to be presented in this public context at the High Line and how did that shape your approach to making the film, knowing that it was going to be in a place like this?

AM: When I was making the film, and it all happened, like, about a year ago. I thought to myself, Okay, it’s the High Line…and so I thought, okay, when tourists come here, they’re running around looking at their Google maps from point A to point B, or going to the gallery, or to a shop, to buy things, or visit as much as they can. And I thought, okay, maybe if they’re here for three days, and they don’t have the time to see the wisdom and listen and be slow, walk slowly in the city, and meet all the knowledge. Maybe I can create something that’s a piece for them, so they can leave with some knowledge and realizations.

ARS: Thank you so much. Alicia, thank you. Cool. That was awesome.

AM: I just want to say one thing quick, I’m not going to be able to thank everyone, but I want to thank all my teachers who are in the film, because I’ve been watching you for the past couple months, and there’s so much more that is not in the film. I’m so grateful for all of this to be inside me now, and everything that you’ve given to me. Thank you so much. You’re like angels for real, also Jefferson Wenzel, my amazing animator who created the beautiful butterfly; and Bate 1 prod for the music. Thank you so much. And thank you to everyone here for coming. You’re my loves, my stars. Thank you so much.