Miles to Go Before
We Sleep
An immigrant story of beauty and purpose
Miles to Go Before We Sleep uses the unique power of art to provide city-wide healing and spur economic development. In the mural, community stories find a permanent home. It’s a gallery wall full of local faces, immigrant journeys, wins for the city, and hopes for the future. Stretching an impressive 70 x 20 feet, the mural has become a neighborhood icon, a source of deep community pride—and a jumping off point for a suite of community-building initiatives.
Industry & Client
Government Garibaldi Club of Haverhill
Location
Haverhill, MA
Materials
Aluminum composite material (ACM) panelling, acrylic paint
Services
Public art Consulting
WHAT WE CREATED
Feature installation
Miles To Go Before We Sleep - An Immigrant and Origin Story Project, a 70 ft x 20 ft mural painted on weather-resistant ACM paneling, is a dynamic and visually striking public artwork that tells the collective story of the city’s immigrant past and present. It is characterized by vibrant colors, layered symbolism, and a composition that weaves together personal histories, cultural motifs, and themes of vibrancy and shared humanity.
Community art studio
Community input was central to the mural’s evolution. To create a highly interactive process, we set up a temporary art studio in an empty main street storefront, serving as both a workspace and an engagement hub. Here, local artists were hired to support the mural’s creation, contributing their skills to a collective artistic vision.
This is more than a work of public art—it’s a living symbol of resilience, inclusion, and shared history.
Context
Haverhill’s history has always been shaped by waves of immigration, contributing to the city’s vibrant local traditions, cuisine, and public life. While the 19th and 20th century saw many Italian and Irish immigrants, more recent immigrants are Latino, mostly with origins in the Dominican Republic. Although separated by decades, these immigrant experiences—including the feeling of being affiliated with an “other” place—transcend time. These experiences bring wonderful moments of cultural exchange, but also result in civic exclusion, linguistic and cultural barriers, and discrimination.
In 2018, racial tension reached an inflection point in Haverhill. There was escalating rhetoric around an alleged “caravan of migrants” in the city. That same year, a Dominican-American, first-generation Haverhill resident named Andy X. Vargas ran for city representative in the State House. When Vargas won the election, becoming the first Latino representative in Haverhill, it was a thrilling milestone for the city and its people. And yet, his win spurred a wave of hurtful, racist dialogue and tension in the community.
It is in the context of this racially-charged discourse that Miles To Go Before We Sleep - An Immigrant and Origin Story Mural Project was born. It was created from a desire to use art and community to bring added vibrancy to a city’s main street and spur economic activity. But the goal of the project went even deeper—it was designed to create city-wide healing by responding to hatred and division.
Amidst city-wide tension, Haverhill’s civic life asked: How can we respond meaningfully?
Process
The project was a major community public art and placemaking project—placing engagement, research, and dialogue at the center of the artistic process. The project began with initial outreach from community members seeking ways to use public art as a means of addressing the divisive political climate and fostering economic growth. Early conversations laid the groundwork for a mural concept. As interest grew, more stakeholders joined the effort—including community leaders, local organizations, city officials, and businesses—forming a larger steering group to guide the project.
Once the foundational vision was established, the project moved into planning and development. This phase included drafting a concept for the mural and developing an activation plan, timeline, and budget. Fundraising and grant writing were key components of this stage, ensuring that the project had the financial backing necessary to succeed. Simultaneously, partnerships were forged with local nonprofit organizations, city departments, and business owners to create a multi-layered engagement strategy.
Community input was our focus from start to finish. We collected community stories—including 45 immigrant and origin stories—that provided invaluable narratives and visual references that informed the mural’s composition. We hosted youth workshops to help shape the project’s storytelling component. These sessions provided a creative platform for young people to explore identity, migration, and belonging through poetry, visual art, and storytelling. Integrating youth perspectives ensured that the project resonated across generations.
To create a space where local artists could connect and create, we activated an empty storefront, transforming it into a vibrant community space. All of this work reinforced the project’s themes of inclusivity and shared cultural heritage.
Together, we moved toward a shared vision for sustainable economic growth and social change.
Inspiration
The design itself draws inspiration from craft heritage artforms and community showcase walls. Maiolica, a type of Italian Renaissance pottery characterized by its white surface and vibrant, painted decorations—was the aesthetic inspiration for the piece. Maiolica represents the immigrant experience, both as an expression of multicultural and multigenerational dialogue and as an art form with notable duality—it was both sublime and everyday.
Maiolica was developed using porcelain technology in China, then moved to Persia, where certain design motifs were developed. It was only centuries later, in the 1200-1500s that these techniques and ideas migrated into the Italian peninsula and reached Faenza. It doesn’t end there, though—the popularity of this new artistic technique and style was so wide that it inspired new art forms across the world. Maiolica is both “high art”—meant for admiration and contemplation—and “utilitarian art,” designed for daily use.
With its connection to Haverhill’s Italian-American community, Maiolica provided a powerful visual framework for the mural. It’s representative of the city’s older, more established Italian immigrant community finding kinship with newer immigrants—and creating space for everybody in the city.
Along with Maiolica, the design drew from the idea of a community photo wall. Imagine a wall at a grandparent’s home or a beloved local restaurant packed with cherished photos, newspaper clippings, and artwork of local landmarks, family, friends, and special moments. We hoped to create an intergenerational version of this same quilt in a public space; a moment that ties the community together through shared experiences and humanity, while celebrating all of unique vibrancy.
What was most powerful about the piece is that it invited members of the public to submit their own photographs of family members that immigrated to Haverhill. The entire process flipped a negative narrative on immigrants into an inclusive and uplifting project. Before we knew it, a principal wall in downtown Haverhill had images of Irish, Italian, Polish, Dominican, Central American, and other origin countries painted on it.
Andy X. Vargas
State Representative, 3rd Essex District, Massachusetts House
Outcome
Once the mural panel painting was complete, installation took place in a prominent public location, ensuring high visibility and accessibility. The unveiling event was a moment of collective celebration, featuring performances, storytelling, and community gatherings that reinforced the themes of the project. The unveiling event included speeches by politicians and community leaders. The event also included a potluck hosted by several local restaurants, all featuring cuisines from their different cultures. Beyond its physical presence, the mural was activated through guided tours, artist talks, and interactive programming that encouraged continued community participation.
The final artwork helped to heal social divisions, spur the local economy, inform public policy, and energize community members into sustained civic activity. The project fostered a sense of pride and belonging among immigrant residents while promoting intercultural dialogue. It increased foot traffic to the area, benefiting local businesses. It even springboarded local artists, one of whom is now a sought-after local tattoo artist.
Following its installation, the mural catalyzed public policy changes and ongoing cultural programming, including an annual festival, poetry readings, and a community cookbook. The collected stories from this project were even used to inform an immersive opera! These initiatives show that Miles to Go Before We Sleep is an evolving testament to the immigrant experience, continually fostering dialogue and connection in the community.
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