In an otherwise nondescript hallway, Sophia Ainslie’s recently finished mural on the eighth floor of Boston City Hall brings a sense of vibrancy as splashes of blue, pink, yellow, orange, and red collide with the flurry of black lines that give her artwork shape. 

Throughout the 90 hours Ainslie spent on the installation, passersby who worked in the building often stopped and stared. They’d ask her what the painting depicts.

“What do you think it is?,” Ainslie, associate teaching professor of art and design at Northeastern, would respond.

People said they saw all kinds of things: animals, manifestations of emotions such as happiness; someone even saw a map of the world. Ainslie says she welcomed the variation of responses…

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