The morning after the presidential election, an eery silence encompassed New York City. The majority blue city woke up to a dreary gray day ahead of them that felt like a bad nightmare they weren’t going to wake up from.
Amongst the protests, demonstrations, and heated responses, a truly New York-only exhibition began giving an outlet for thoughts and words of support. The price for entrance? A metrocard swipe.
Thousands of post-its fill the Union Square subway station with words of encouragement, rage, hope, and agreement about the state of America following the presidential election.The project was started by artist “Levee,” real name Matthew Chavez, who sought to help New Yorkers “overflowing with emotion, help channel their energy into something good.” According to his website subwaytherapy.com“Subway Therapy” allowed New Yorkers to express their feelings, but also read how others felt.Even the youngest of our communities felt the impact of the elections and left a post-it with their thoughts.Post-its left the walls and covered polls, columns, and spread to other stations.Beyond the written words, the Subway Therapy locations allowed for open discourse and sharing.Post-its continued the heated debates of the elections. Topics from immigration and the environment to human rights and accessibility.Post-its covered every space, including advertisement spaces.While Levee provided post-its in the first few days, people soon came with their own post-its and creative ways to display their messages.After more than 5 weeks, the exhibit has been taken down. It will be preserved and continued at the New York Historical Society starting December 20th, 2016 until January 20th, 2017 when the president-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.
