For Freedoms' new 50 State Initiative billboards aim to deepen political discourse in St. Louis ahead of midterms

Have you seen them yet?

by

St. Louis just joined the largest creative collaboration in American history—and the proof is in three billboards scattered across the city, part of the 50 State Initiative, a project by national organization For Freedoms. Installed the week of September 17, a small purse with “Your Body Your Business” embroidered in bold pink towers over a stretch of I-44. Another, near the Stan Musial Memorial Bridge, depicts a man looking toward the sun and the words “Ride Walk Drive March Vote.” The third, in St. Charles near 5th Street, proclaims “All Li es Matter.”

Between September and November 2018, ahead of the contentious midterm elections, the team at For Freedoms—which takes its name from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—hopes to spur public discussion and civic participation across the country. And they plan to do it by working with more than 300 artists and 200 institutional partners to produce exhibitions, town halls, billboards, and lawn signs in all 50 states.

“We believe that all art is political, and we believe that artists have very important and necessary things to say around the major issues of our time,” For Freedoms founder and designer of the “All Li es Matter” billboard Hank Willis Thomas said. “And because they are so focused on an issue, they are in a unique position as storytellers.”

In St. Louis, For Freedoms collaborated with projects+gallery, a Central West End space for contemporary exhibitions, and Modou Dieng, an independent curator.

“My M.O. as an artist and curator is creating ways to make changes by allowing space for it to happen,” Dieng said. “And do it in beautiful ways. Because beauty has no limits. For Freedoms represents that excellently.”

As curator, Dieng worked with local partners to determine the locations of each billboard. A major consideration was separating the three billboards so they would not be in close proximity to one another, in order to expose as many individuals as possible to the artwork. Choosing which art to display in each city depends on the local history and culture. In St. Louis, Thomas’ piece seemed like a natural fit.

“After the murder of Michael Brown, there was a lot of conversation about 'all lives matter' versus 'black lives matter,' as if black lives aren’t part of all lives. And a lot of people who were saying ‘all lives matter,’ not everyone, meant ‘all lives matter, but some more than others,’” Thomas said. “I kind wanted to highlight this reading between the lines. And it occurred to me that just by removing one letter you could get to the truth of what was being said. That was pretty amazing.”

The billboards are only the beginning of For Freedoms’ programming in the area. An installation curated by Dieng titled “Cry of Victory and Short Walks to Freedom" will run October 18 until November 24 at projects+gallery. Fourteen artists are part of the exhibition, which examines the current political climate. On October 20, Dieng and the artists will deliver a talk at projects+gallery. A town hall will take place at Contemporary Art Museum on November 1.

“What’s great about it is beyond messaging and beyond a shared message or perspective, it’s really about a very large and very well-developed public art project,” projects+gallery founder Susan Barrett said. “And to me, that is amazingly exciting. To show that one project can be in every state at the same time.”

In 2016, ahead of the general election, For Freedoms hosted town halls, exhibitions, and billboards in 18 states. Barrett was impressed with the project, and reached out to Dieng, whom she had collaborated with before. The two discussed how to center St. Louis as a hub for the project.

“I think it’s important for several reasons, especially in St. Louis in that we’re often not thought of as important in the political realm, that we’re a flyover state, or that we’re not one of the states with all the electoral votes and so therefore we don’t get a lot of time,” Barrett said. “Also because we’re sort of passed over as a red state.”

The city is a particularly special place to Dieng– he was born in a small French city in Africa with the same name.

“So I always had this desire to doing something in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s a place with great American History. Sometime not so good but still important and most important with the most recent history that gave us Black Lives Matter,” Dieng said. “I see this exhibition as a place where we could humbly face tragic moments in America, but as well as a celebrations of the victories we so far achieved to advance the peoples business and those to come.”

On October 6, Missouri became host to three additional For Freedoms billboards. One is in Jefferson and reads “Words Shape Reality.” There are two in Kansas City, one with horses pulling a Hummer stagecoach, and another displaying overlapping American flags alongside the word “Indivisible.” Collaborative programs and events will also be hosted in these cities.

“We’re excited to have the billboard companies and the artists and the museums and the colleges and universities and the local artists and curators to really breathe life into this project which could be nothing without them, Thomas said. “That’s the really amazing thing.

“Our goal is to spark dialogue across the nation around the complicated issues of our time. And to hopefully inspire critical, we believe good art asks questions, so the work may be seen as a statement, but as you saw with my ‘all lives matter’ it really is very much a question,” Thomas said. “And that when people go to the polls, they’re not just focused on demonizing or lionizing someone, or assuming they’re absolutely right or absolutely wrong, but really trying to think about what their power is as voters and as citizens in the context of the present moment and toward the greater good and future.”

Get the best of St. Louis Magazine's print stories in your inbox.
Or, check out all of our newsletters.