For Freedoms: 50 State Initiative

For Freedoms was an artist-run organization that worked collectively to create public works to inspire political discourse and action ahead of the midterm elections in 2018. Called the 50 State Initiative, the core of the project was a campaign to fund the creation of billboards across the USA through 52 separate Kickstarter campaigns, one for each state, as well as DC and Puerto Rico. These billboards— bearing messages and imagery by diverse artists— invited communities nationwide to reflect on values like equality, voting, and representation. For Freedoms also engages the public through art installations, community workshops, and media campaigns, always aiming to deepen civic participation.

For Mural Arts Philadelphia, the project engaged photographers Dana Singer, Shawn Theodore, and Daniel Traub to work with students in Mural Arts Art Education Programs. These young artists aged 10 to 22 collaboratively envisioned, sketched, and painted vivid backdrops. Their work explored their experience of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear – as young people in the 21s century. Singer, Theodore, and Traub photographed the youth in front of their backdrops, creating portraits that speak to their collective resilience, strength, and spirit. These portraits were also shown on billboards throughout Philadelphia, making a statement that could not be missed.

The youth also learned photography and experimented with their own photographic voice. These photos were also part of an exhibition entitled Yearbook at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in the fall of 2018.