Politics
Artist Offers Post-It Therapy in Subway for Grieving New Yorkers After Trump Triumph
The project has lit up social media.
Brian Boucher
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Artist Matthew Chavez has created a way for New Yorkers to find comfort and community after Republican nominee Donald Trump’s surprise win in the US presidential election on Tuesday, and he’s done so in an unlikely setting: a subway platform.
By simply setting up a folding table in a hallway in a subway tunnel under 14th Street with a sign reading “Subway Therapy” and offering Post-It notes with the encouragement to “express yourself,” Chavez has given birth to a colorful, grieving, sometimes-hopeful message board.
“A lot of people will see the wall, and they’ll just break down and start crying, and what’s been really beautiful about that is that when that happens, people give them hugs,” the artist told the New York Times in a video.
At least 1,500 people have posted messages, the artist told the New York Daily News. They include sentiments like “this too shall pass,” “love & light to all,” and “I’m appalled that this happened … but our democracy is stronger than any one individual.”
The project has lit up social media.
Chavez has set up shop at other subway stations over the past six weeks, including at Columbus Circle in front of a colorful Sol LeWitt mural:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMM8lxcBADA/?taken-by=subwaytherapy&hl=en
Back at 14th Street, some subway therapy patients are offering calls to action and consolation.
“Time to get to work. Give them hell,” writes one. A neighboring yellow sticky note hopefully reads “We’ll find a way to make this right.”
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