Memory Replacement Election Day 2020

Performance and Installation collaboration with the General public on November 3rd, Election Day 2020 on Union Square in New York City.

I asked people to paint their thoughts and feelings on Election Day, 2020.

With the understanding that Union Square has always been a place of gathering and dissent, these 15 canvas pieces are of cultural and historical significance. They are graffiti skins, a billboard carrying the voices and the small marks of hundreds of people, and their concerns on Election Day, 2020. The worries of a great pandemic year coupled with anxiety for tomorrow.

These canvas works painted by New Yorkers of all walks of life, ages and ethnic background represent the voices of the people from all corners of expression. With the 12 hands pointing outward like the hands of a clock, with the Circle of Love in the middle, and the Pyramid of Hope at its center. It is a symbolic structure of democracy and the democratic expression. It is so that the creative word may be heard, which is the great thesis of democracy.

In addition, this work is a part of the street culture of New York city which has borne many cultural phenomena over the years, including graffiti culture, rap and verse cultures, street performance culture. The 15 canvas pieces are a non-vinyl historical record of the zeitgeist. It is a public art created by the public.

Thank you all for sharing these great moments with me and paint, our superpower is the power to express ourselves.

My eyes are closed on most of the pictures so I missed some of the action, I have no idea how everything came together, I was afraid people may not show up, the design may not work, the cops can show up, the park people can show up, the weather can tangle everything into a mess, and me of course simply giving up after not having slept for days. But somehow after I unfolded the canvas everyone started painting like mad, I remember somebody passing by and saying "I didn't know people are that much into painting”.

Of course as you know everything is so precarious and I'm really grateful that the cops didn't chase me away and that the park people only gave me a warning, I'm grateful the winds didn't pick up and the man who came to kick the art at the very end of the day didn't carry a weapon. I'm also thankful for this amazing place at the heart of New York City.

At the end of the day a very white guy who was possibly on drugs, I can't really explain it, came and kicked everything to pieces and I literally had to push him off the art. I'm grateful that was all that happened.

I ALSO EXPECTED PEOPLE IN HAZMAT SUITS TO SHOW UP AND SPRAY DISINFECTANT ON EVERYTHING AND TAKE ME TO CONTAMINATION PRISON

Power of Art, Power to the People. Our superpower is the power to express ourselves and to exercise democracy.

The Hands of Memory Replacement Election Day, 2020.

I built tiny canvas cozies for the hand sanitizer bottles, and they had tiny hands cut into them.

My get up and go checklist, the belt of my dress, a sketch, I also built canvas cozies for the paint and brushes cans, the last image is my 3d model of the installation in maya. All mathematically correct and medically sound.

I received many enthusiastic notes and photographs emailed to me by participants.