Broadway Billboard: ‘Word on the Street: Love Not Hatred’

‘Word on the Street: Love Not Hatred,’ a collaboration between artist Amy Khoshbin and poet Anne Carson, opened November 7, 2017 – Election Day. It is the second Broadway Billboard to be presented in response to Socrates’ inaugural competition for billboard proposals.

This Broadway Billboard installment is part of Khoshbin’s ongoing series, ‘Word on the Street,’ an all-female public art initiative in collaboration with public art producer, House of Trees. The Word on the Street series facilitates the creation and presentation of poetic banners by acclaimed writers and visual artists who, through the public use of visual text, can speak directly to the urgent, timeless concerns of the individual, the community, and citizenship. Launched in response to the 2016 election, Khoshbin originally created banners from slogans Carson wrote responding to the political landscape, which have appeared in a variety of forums, from major marches across Washington D.C. to the Whitney Houston Biennial.

Located at Socrates Sculpture Park, ‘Word on the Street: Love Not Hatred,’ celebrates the inclusive ethos of the Park, as well as its roots in community organizing. The billboard captures the handcrafted feel and felt texture of do-it-yourself protest signs, highlighting the intersection of craft and resistance movements.

The employed text features Classics scholar Anne Carson’s translation of a line in Sophocles’ ‘Antigone,’ a tragedy that explores the rule of law, familial duty, and civil disobedience. The passage is Antigone’s response to Creon, King of Thebes, who forbids her from giving her deceased brother, whom he considers a traitor, a proper burial. Many interpret Antigone as a figure of moral righteousness and a fearless defender of individual rights in the face of authoritative oppression, speaking truth to power.

November 7, 2017 – April 29, 2018