In 2015, artist Matthew Chavez was recovering from a motorcycle accident that left him within the hospital for 3 weeks and unable to stroll for months when he planted the seeds for Subway Remedy, a public participatory artwork challenge that has turn out to be a phenomenon throughout the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) system.
“I assumed so much about how grateful I used to be for my household and my associates that confirmed up for me,” Chavez stated in an interview with Hyperallergic. “I assumed: You understand what? I need to present up for those that don’t have that in New York.”
That Christmas Day, Chavez stated got down to turn out to be the “New York Secret Keeper,” asking strangers to admit a secret with him to lighten the burden of holding it.
“As a stranger, it wouldn’t be so heavy for me, however I’d assist them carry the load,” Chavez stated.
Quickly after launching his secret-sharing marketing campaign, Chavez — who is just not a licensed counselor — stated he started holding mock remedy periods, organising a cell “workplace” in subway stations full with wall artwork one would possibly discover in a non-public follow and two chairs the place Chavez and contributors would enact therapeutic confessionals.
Subway Remedy gained prominence in November 2016, when Donald Trump secured the White Home for the primary time. Chavez included sticky notes into the efficiency, taking the challenge out of the artist’s arms and into the arms of the hundreds of people that trip the subway every day.
This month, Chavez recreated the challenge throughout the week of November 7, capturing a uncommon glimpse into the ideas of New Yorkers following the election.
On the peak of the challenge’s post-election recognition in 2016, disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo left a word of his personal: “New York State holds the torch excessive! – Andrew C.” Strangers left messages together with “Trump is inhumane,” “Like to my Muslim brothers and sisters,” offended sentiments towards the electoral school, and the favored slogan “Love Trumps Hate.”
Eight years later, the rhetoric hanging from the neon Submit-it squares is completely different. Whereas there was barely any room for even yet one more sticky word on the Union Sq. station in 2016, this 12 months’s confessionals are extra sparsely populated, and their messages appear much less reactive to a Trump win.
Chavez arrange a store between November 5 and 10 in an underpass on the 14th Avenue subway complicated with a immediate spelled out in tacked notes: “What’s in your thoughts?”
Scribbled messages from this month included calls to motion like “Free all harmless Black women and men,” “Love and Defend Trans Folks,” “Free Cuba,” and “Democrat or Republican, they each ship billions to Israel, ditch the bread and circuses.” Extra widespread than overtly political statements on this 12 months’s crop of notes, nonetheless, had been contributors’ witty private observations.
In English, Spanish, and French, passersby contributed intimate ideas to the general public wall, maybe indicating an ambivalence to this 12 months’s election. “Gracias New York por permitirme conocer al chico de mis sueños,” one word written in cursive learn. (“Thanks New York for letting me meet the boy of my goals.”)
Others wrote “Simply had a tremendous date,” “The worth of a espresso is wild [sic] costly,” “This wall is vibrating it makes me cry,” “Brat,” “I miss my household and boyfriend,” and “Quiero Taco Bell.” Different notes shared most cancers diagnoses, grief for misplaced mother and father, and psychological well being struggles.
Chavez attributes the distinction within the messages to a change on this 12 months’s immediate. “Up to now, I’ve finished ‘Specific your self for the election,’” Chavez stated. An remark that has remained regular through the years, he defined, is the persistent want for public expression amongst New Yorkers.
Chavez has additionally began his personal nonprofit, Listening Lab, which hosts occasions and workshops on listening and “neighborhood improvement.” Now he manages Subway Remedy by way of the group and sends volunteers underground for the challenge’s subway pop-ups at stations together with Columbus Circle and Union Sq..
“One factor that’s so ever-present is how a lot folks want alternatives to specific themselves in shared house,” Chavez stated. “There’s this large divide, this large chasm between people who find themselves experiencing the identical factor.”
