All Photos By Gail
If you’re looking for a fun and easy day trip from Manhattan this summer, why not spend a few hours exploring Roosevelt Island? A unique blend of residential neighborhoods, waterfront parks, and fascinating history, the island is just a four-minute ride from Midtown aboard the Roosevelt Island Tramway at East 59th Street. Once you arrive, simply wander at your own pace and you’ll discover plenty of unexpected sights that make the trip worthwhile.
One of my favorite discoveries on a recent visit was the Girl Puzzle Monument, an inspiring public artwork located at the northern tip of the island in Lighthouse Park.
Created by internationally acclaimed sculptor Amanda Matthews, The Girl Puzzle was unveiled in December 2021 and is a permanent installation. It is the first monument in New York City dedicated to pioneering journalist Nellie Bly (1864–1922), whose investigative reporting helped redefine what journalism could accomplish.
Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Nellie Bly became famous in the late nineteenth century for her extraordinary courage. She went undercover inside the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island — Roosevelt Island’s former name — to expose the horrific treatment of patients. Her groundbreaking series of articles, later published as Ten Days in a Mad-House, shocked the public and led to major reforms in mental health care. Bly later gained worldwide fame by traveling around the globe in just 72 days, inspired by Jules Verne’s fictional Around the World in Eighty Days.
The monument’s title, The Girl Puzzle, comes from an 1885 newspaper column written by Bly, in which she reflected on the limited opportunities available to women and questioned society’s expectations of them. Matthews transformed that idea into an artwork about identity, perseverance, and the many roles women occupy throughout their lives.
Rather than depicting a single traditional statue of Nellie Bly, the installation features five monumental bronze portraits, each representing a different stage of her life and evolution — from determined young reporter to accomplished journalist and humanitarian.
The faces appear fragmented and incomplete, suggesting that identity is never fixed but constantly shaped by experience. Interspersed among the sculptures are engraved quotations from Bly’s own writings, allowing visitors to hear her voice as they move through the installation.
At the center of the monument sit three highly polished stainless-steel spheres, aligned along a concrete promenade between the bronze heads. Their mirrored surfaces reflect the sky, the East River, the lighthouse, the surrounding cityscape, and even the visitors themselves.
The effect is intentional: the artwork invites viewers to see themselves reflected within Bly’s story. Just as Bly challenged assumptions and exposed hidden truths, the mirrored orbs encourage moments of self-reflection while connecting the monument to its ever-changing surroundings.
The monument’s location is equally meaningful. Standing only a short distance from the site of the former asylum where Bly conducted her famous investigation, the installation transforms a place once associated with secrecy and injustice into one of remembrance, resilience, and hope.
Against the backdrop of Lighthouse Park, with sweeping views of Manhattan and the Queens waterfront, The Girl Puzzle succeeds as both a striking work of contemporary sculpture and a thoughtful tribute to one of America’s most fearless journalists.
It is the kind of public art that rewards lingering — reading Bly’s words, studying the expressive bronze faces, watching the reflective spheres capture the changing sky, and appreciating how one woman’s determination helped change the world.
