In the summer of 2018, I began collecting homemade “free” signs (replacing each sign I took with a handmade sign of my own so as not to disrupt the exchange of goods) and accumulated a growing collection of roughly 350. The word FREE, repeated over and over along local roadsides, began to seem like a mantra— or a call to action. FREE! has been exhibited at Gravity Gallery in North Adams (MA) and at Gallery Kayafas in Boston, both times as site-specific installations with the collected signs hung densely from floor to ceiling. The intended effect is a meditation on the meaning of the word “free.” Taken out of the original roadside context, the word shifts in meaning from free of charge to freedom, from a description to a command. Through intense repetition, even that meaning can change in the viewer’s experience. What does it mean to be free? Who is free? Who isn’t free?
FREE!
Select Signs From the Collection:
