For Freedoms 50 State Initiative at USF

September 26 – November 1, 2018
USF Contemporary Art Museum (Exterior, South Lawn)

For Freedoms 50 State Initiative is an anti-partisan, national platform using art as a means for civic engagement, discourse and direct action. For Freedoms is inspired by Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings of the four universal freedoms articulated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

The signs displayed in the exhibition on the museum lawn were generated through a series of participatory events on September 26, October 17, and October 24, hosted by student-led CAM Club at the USF Bull Market, in which the public were invited to share their own vision of freedom. Harnessing the power of art and the visibility of political lawn signs, this installation represents a multiplicity of voices expressing a range of freedoms valued in our community.

Founded by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, the For Freedoms Federation encourages new forms of critical discourse. For Freedoms’ mission is to use art as a vehicle to build greater participation in American Democracy.

USFCAM's participation in For Freedoms 50 State Initiative is made possible in part with generous support from the Gobioff Foundation.