Tears for fears
We invite individual visual and performing artists, writers, bookstores, book clubs, brave non-profit or government organizations and other individuals or groups across the USA to independently “flood the zone” with creativity, for Create to Liberate, Saturday, April 19, 2025.
Think of the following idea as a pilot light for the creative fire within you (if yours needs to be lit.)
Create to Liberate Idea No. 17
An Abbetuck member suggested that, as an act of April 19 art activism, someone scale the Statue of Liberty and paint a big tear running down her cheek. Another Abbetuck member reminded us that it would be vandalism.
We do not want to go there. That’s too January 6th for us.
However, we have another idea for those skilled artists who are working with light projection:
During the night of Saturday, April 19, what would it take to project tears on the faces of statues and memorials?
Technology must have evolved where this is possible. After all, we’re seen projections on sidewalks, buildings, and the backsides of Tesla Cybertrucks.
It would just be tear drops. Streaming from the eyes of the Statue of Liberty, Abe’s face in the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King’s face as he looks out over the tidal basin, all four men in a monument carved on sacred and stolen Lakota land that some call Mount Rushmore.
We’re not even talking about projection mapping, which would be more spectacular and more complicated.
- Projection mapping (also known as video mapping or spatial augmented reality) transforms objects, surfaces and spaces into dynamic visual displays.
- You’ve seen images of cathedrals in Europe come to life or even melt. Or perhaps you have seen the remarkable video mapping at the Sydney Opera House.
- Projection mapping opens incredible possibilities for blending art, technology and storytelling—perfect for making bold statements about social change.
If someone could go beyond simple tears on statues of American patriots, art activism in the United States would receive international media attention…
…although it might take transforming the granite faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln into the faces of 19th century tribal chiefs of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota Sioux and Crow nations.
Also crying.
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