Therapy Wall : Sharing A Voice with New York City
In the past week thousands of colorful messages have bloomed across the subway walls of Union Square Station in New York City. A project called “Subway Therapy” is asking commuters and visitors-alike to share what’s on their mind... a socially artful effort to relieve election-related stress and perhaps strike up a healthy conversation with the person beside you.
Take Part in the Therapy Wall
As a New Yorker I pass by this therapy-wall every day. I’ve been in complete awe of it as it continues to grow and surpass expectations of community participation and (most importantly) bipartisan conversation. As an experiment, I thought it would be fun to extend this participation to the Steemit Community. So, to my fellow internet neighbors - if you feel motivated to do so…
Please share a post-it sized message of your own in the comment section below this post.
I will hand-write the top 10 upvoted messages below and add them to the real wall in Union Square.
I'll share a picture of your messages in place in Union Square. (By Wednesday, November 23rd)
I think this will be an exciting way to engage with a living-breathing art project in New York City, while tapping into an even broader scope of emotions and reactions. I hope that some of these messages resonate with you… or at the very least, spark a new conversation. Here are a few images I took while passing through Union Square this past weekend...
A Little Bit About The Place
The “14th Street - Union Square” Subway Station is the fourth busiest transportation hub in all of New York City. There are nine different train lines hosted in this portal to the Manhattan underground. In this place, upwards of 35 million people are transported around the city each year. This is a unique crossing and shoulder-brushing of people from all five boroughs of New York, of all classes, races, religions and orientations. Even with its frantic movement, you cannot escape the reality of diversity in voices and faces of those surrounding you.
This past year has been an exhaustive one for Americans all across the country. Regardless of your party or preferences, the election has taken an incredible toll on all of us. The artist who began this project over a week ago, Matthew “Levee” Chavez said “Subway Therapy is about making people smile, laugh, and feel less stress. If someone wants to get something off their chest or has a burning question, I'm happy to be there for them. I believe that people grow and learn through dynamic conversation.” (source)
I look forward to your thoughts, reactions and new impressions on the wall. Thank you!
Follow me @voronoi to continue the conversation :)
Here's a quote I love from author James Baldwin...
“We can disagree and still work together as long as your disagreement is not rooted in my oppression, the denial of my humanity or my right to exist.”
Yes, here's my short on that one.... we can disagree without being disagreeable... it's probably not new but I don't know where it came from.
Great initiative. I have nothing more clever to say right now, so that I will just pass :)
Hah, I like it! Could I write just that on a post-it?? :)
Please do so if you feel so :)
Anonymity is an incredible artistic tool that is unfortunately unexplored by such an ego-driven creative world. These kinds of "projects" give real catharsis to publics who don't have a public voice (even facebook is extremely limiting in how much you can express especially on particular topics.) Resteemed!
"Art Saved the World" < This is my favorite! What a great idea. There will be much to say.
winter is coming.
perhaps a foot or two of snow about now.
I can picture many kinds of moods - people lovingly pasting a message, some leaving a joke for a daily smile and others slapping their frustration words onto the wall....great concept.
All those Post-It's, wonderful! I take it there isn't a strong breeze down that subway! I will leave you an additional 'post-it sized message' but I want to think about it for a bit.
It's incredible! And luckily not super windy ;) Thanks @opheliafu I'm looking forward to your message!
'Share as many smiles as you can, they are free!'
You beat me to it! Fantastic post-it @opheliafu I had no idea you were in NYC!
(Whoops haha, clever photoshopping there. Had me fooled!)
Not even Photoshopped. I held the Post-It in front of my computer monitor.
Something like this is my hope for steemit.
Mine as well! It's amazing to see such a small-town attitude and acceptance of these messages within such a massive metropolis. It really is like a real-life steemit feed.
What a great way to release pent up emotions.
Very therapeutic to browse and read through as well!
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the second half of Nov 21. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $5.60 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Nov 21 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
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