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Engage. Reflect. Share.

Reflect on faith and history with temporary public artwork, part of the For Freedoms 50 State Initiative project.

The chalkboard wall on OMCA’s campus as well as various billboards and bus shelters across the Bay Area are a part of a temporary public artwork by Chris Johnson. Johnson remixes images by acclaimed 20th century documentary photographer Dorothea Lange with a quote by American Transcendentalist Theodore Parker. We are asked to reflect on faith and history during this political moment leading up to the congressional midterm elections.

This artwork is part of 50 State Initiative, a national arts program organized by For Freedoms, a network for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the United States. Founded by Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, For Freedoms was inspired by Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings of the four universal freedoms articulated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941—freedom of speech, worship, want, and fear.

Join Chris Johnson, along with City of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya, Executive Director of Attitudinal Healing Connection Amana Harris, and artist Karen Seneferu in a special conversation moderated by Unique Holland as they discuss the role of artists in civic dialogue this Sunday, October 28. Get tickets here.

For more information about For Freedoms 50 State Initiative project, visit museumca.org/forfreedoms.