Our America mobilizes artists and NYC community members of all ages to create temporary murals in public spaces using handwritten text to assert belonging and cultural plurality as an act of creative resistance within FALL OF FREEDOM’s national call. 

Reclaiming the act of “writing lines” from its disciplinary origins, Our America transforms an exercise of repetition into a collective ritual of presence. Variations in handwriting, scale, and placement generate evolving text patterns, creating a visual record of participation that reflects the diversity, inclusivity, and many voices that shape our vibrant nation.

By activating accessible public spaces across New York City through a simple task and the nostalgia of chalk, Our America lowers barriers to participation, inviting broad public engagement and fostering spontaneous, intergenerational dialogue. The project enables community authorship, positioning each participant’s handwriting as both personal expression and collective testimony. As a temporary medium, chalk underscores the urgency and fragility of democratic expression while facilitating low-cost implementation and replication across other cities.

Anticipated outcomes include the creation of large-scale murals across NYC and beyond, with direct participation from dozens of artists and community members, and expanded visibility through documentation and social sharing. The project aims to strengthen connection, amplify voices often overlooked, and demonstrate how creative practice can function as a tool for collective resistance and civic affirmation.

FALL OF FREEDOM is a national call to artists, institutions, and communities to create work responding to rising threats to free expression, immigrant and civil rights, and ongoing repression and state violence. Through coordinated activations across the country, the initiative amplifies creative resistance and celebrates the experiences, cultures, and identities that shape the fabric of our nation.