Light the Barricades

Los Angeles, California

Light the Barricades is a series of three electrified shrines that reimagines the wall as a site for contemplating inner obstructions. Combining the anatomy of billboards with the traditions of Chinese landscape painting and meditation, the installations focus on doubt, judgment, and resentment—qualities that increasingly dominate American life today. Passersby are invited to read illustrated fables along the length of the facades before engaging in five-minute reflections on the role we play in our relationships with others and ourselves.

Spanning four sites across Los Angeles, the solar-powered structures appeared at Grand Park, Annenberg Community Beach House, and the Natural History Museum before convening at the Annenberg Space for Photography as part of the exhibit Walls: Defend, Divide, and the Divine. The project extended into the gallery and invited visitors to anonymously share their obstacles while considering the experiences of others through an ever-growing video installation of select responses. Over 3,000 handwritten reflections were collected, and Chang and Reeves's original soundtrack for the gallery appeared in an anthology of ambient music by Brooklyn label Mysteries of the Deep.

2019, The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, California; 2021, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina. Commissioned by Katie Hollander, exhibition curation by Jen Sudul Edwards, project management by Stephanie Brown. 8′ h x 27′ w x 3′ d lightboxes; 21′ x 18′ gallery installation. Lightboxes: Solar panels, aluminum, polycarbonate, vinyl, LED lights, hourglasses, concrete, ink. Gallery: concrete, projection, audio, paper, pens.

Fables on the lightboxes:

Doubt
It’s the sound of can’t and won’t and never. We listened to this song until its rhythm was as familiar as our name. Sometimes we changed the channel, hunting for inspiration. Instead we heard jeering crowds on one station and disappointed lovers on the next. We tuned into reports of unfinished work that sounded like descriptions of a crime. Now this chatter has become a chorus buzzing with a thousand frequencies of failure. These voices tell us we will be lonely and embarrassed. They say we will never be understood. The longer we listen, the louder the static roars until we are exhausted from living a thousand lives even though we have not said or done a thing.

Judgment
It felt so good, knowing we were right and they were wrong. Each opinion took us higher, one more step above the mess of the crowd. Idiot. Jerk. Slob. All we needed was a word or a glance. That thing he said. The way she looked. Every verdict was another rung that carried us into the sky. We climbed above the faces on the sidewalk, at the office, and in our bed. We climbed away from our bruises and failings until we could touch the clouds. Look at all those heads down below, distant patterns we can classify as ugly, scary, or weak. The height makes us giddy until the temperature drops, the air grows thin, and nobody notices we are gone.

Resentment
It started with a tiny betrayal. A few words in the kitchen or a broken promise that left us feeling like we had eaten a piece of metal. Maybe it was a job not lost but stolen, or a dream unfulfilled. We can’t remember the details, only the conviction that we were better than this world. The taste of iron remains fresh in our mouths, a weight gathering in the belly. Sometimes we blame the ones we claim to love, wondering if their victories left us stranded here. Our thoughts scrape and clang. Our voices sound like nails. If sleep comes tonight, we will dream of eating bombs that have yet to detonate. We know we should cross the river and begin a new adventure. But we cannot move because we are sinking into the earth.