Artist group For Freedom has installed six billboards in Chicago ahead of the Democratic National Convention scheduled next week.
For Freedom is a non-partisan organization that is run by artists. It was founded in 2016. By August 5, the group had installed six billboards across Chicago. One of them was by artist Carrie Mae Weems and sponsored by the Movement Voter Fund. The other five, each by a different artist, were made in partnership with Gertie, a civic and cultural agency. The billboards are expected to stay up until the end of October – but particularly during the DNC.
Eric Gottesman, co-founder of For Freedom, said: “It’s important for us organizationally, but also ideologically, to stake out a position that is anti-partisan, against partisanship—not just middle-of-the-road, but really challenging notions of what partisanship means.” Additionally, there would be four photographs themed on the four freedoms described by Normal Rockwell. An art festival, “Into Action”, is also scheduled in the city from August 17 to August 22.
The overarching goal of the billboards is to promote civic sense and voting among people. The group also did something similar before the 2020 US Elections. Michelle Woo, another co-founder of the group, got feedback from the people that it “changed their life or sparked a question or an inquiry in them that didn’t exist previously.”
This time as well, the group is eager to collect feedback on how their work is perceived, as well as hiring experts to figure out how to reduce the racial voting gap. taylor brock, associate director of For Freedom, added: “We’re working on trying to encourage compassion, conversation, joy, community-building. We are definitely still on the journey of discovering and figuring out that the ways, because a lot of it’s intangible. But there’s got to be a way.”
