The towering bronze sculpture Satellite, by American artist Simone Leigh, stands near the entry plaza of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Satellite was the centerpiece of the artist’s project for the American Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. The MFAH is the first U.S. museum to acquire and install this monumental bronze in a permanent display. Houston’s Satellite is the second edition of this now-iconic work.

Weighing nearly 6,000 pounds, the 24-foot-high Satellite comprises two elements: a torso with four supports, and a disc-like head. With its evocations of maternity and dignity, the sculpture expresses Leigh’s intent to honor the historically undervalued labor—both physical and intellectual—of Black women.

On the MFAH campus, the location for Satellite is adjacent to Cristina Iglesias’s water sculpture, Inner Landscape (the lithosphere, the roots, the water), on the south side of the Kinder Building.