An enchanting 30-foot pink carriage is in Times Square—with a big message about the American dream

In a city filled with buses, subways, cabs and pedicabs, there's a new kind of transit in town—but you can't ride this one, just admire it. A 30-foot pink carriage drawn by white plastic horses carrying Hello Kitty backpacks now sits in the middle of Times Square as part of an art installation by Yvette Mayorga called Magic Grasshopper.

The striking piece—decked out with smiley face designs, pink suitcases and lowrider gold rims—also includes painterly scenes of migration as a way to challenge European art historical tropes. The artwork isn't pink just for aesthetics; it's "an act of resistance, a sugary shield and a portal to a hopeful future," Times Square Arts officials explained. See Magic Grasshopper for free 24/7 through December 2 near the Red Steps (Broadway and 47th Street).

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Part float, part fantastical vessel, Mayorga's work intends to transports viewers across borders and historical eras. The piece offers a tribute to the physical and personal journeys humans have historically undertaken in pursuit of the American Dream. And it offers a layered critique of the systems that shape that dream.

Drawing on her mother's background as a baker, the Chicago-based Mexican-American artist applied thickened acrylic through pastry bags making the trim on the carriage look more like the detail on a wedding cake. A charming visual spectacle, that design choice also references the histories of women's work and immigrant labor.

An act of resistance, a sugary shield and a portal to a hopeful future.

The aesthetic embodies Mayorga's self-coined concept of "Latinxoco" (a mix of Latinx and Rococo aesthetics) by blending Versailles-inspired grandeur with Mexican symbolism—plus the chaos of a Y2K-era teenage bedroom.

Specifically, the carriage featured in Magic Grasshopper references the royal carriage of the Second Mexican Empire, which was used at the Castillo de Chapultepec in Mexico City, a castle built atop sacred Aztec land. The title, Magic Grasshopper, refers to the English translation of the Nahuatl word Chapultepec ("hill of the grasshopper"), evoking a mythical vehicle able to transcend the constraints of space and time.

The location of the artwork is no coincidence in this era of increasingly alienating migration policies. It's situated in one of the most iconic and heavily trafficked public spaces in the world within New York City, a historically designated sanctuary city for migrants. The artist offers "a beacon of hope, joy and celebration, powerfully asserting presence and demanding visibility of the communities that have built—and continue to build—this country," per Times Square Arts.

"I'm thrilled to be sharing my biggest work yet on one of the world's largest stages," Mayorga said in a press release. "Magic Grasshopper is a metaphor, a vehicle, an archive, a monument. It's excessive and grand, but also incisive and delicate. I hope that everyone who encounters it leaves with a feeling of joy, recognition or even fantasy."