NYC's Post-It Art Therapist Returns to Give Solace in the Wake of Charlottesville
Matthew "Levee" Chavez's "Subway Therapy" had a message this weekend.
Sarah Cascone, August 28, 2017
Matthew "Levee" Chavez, Subway Therapy. Courtesy of Matthew "Levee" Chavez, via Instagram.
In the aftermath of the election of President Donald Trump, New Yorkers came together for Subway Therapy, hanging Post-It notes expressing their frustrations, hopes, fears, and anger in New York subways stations. The participatory art installation returned August 24, this time in response to the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a white nationalist rally.
Subway Therapy is the brainchild of artist Matthew "Levee" Chavez, who set up shop in the subway on November 9, the day after Trump's victory, with a folding table, a stack of Post-Its, and a sign inviting straphangers to express themselves.
"My intention with this project is to get people to write from their heart and their mind," Chavez told Gothamist of bringing the project back to the New York underground. "But it's also a chance to see how other people are reacting, so that we can all connect in this struggling time."
Matthew "Levee" Chavez, Subway Therapy. Courtesy of Matthew "Levee" Chavez, via Instagram.
The original piece resonated with New Yorkers, who overwhelmingly voted for Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. (She received 79 percent of the popular vote in the city.) Thousands participated, and the colorful array of messages soon spread to other stations in Manhattan.
By December, Governor Andrew Cuomo had announced plans to preserve the Post-Its, which are now part of the collection of the New-York Historical Society.
In the months since the original project's deinstallation, Chavez has staged versions of Subway Therapy in Brussels, in March, and in Malmö, Sweden, earlier this month.
Last weekend, the artwork returned to New York, once again filling the subway tunnel at 14th Street between the F/M trains on 6th Avenue and the 2/3 on 7th.
I'm going to be in the subway for a few more hours until 8pm and I'll be back tomorrow from 2-8pm in my usual spot between the 123 and the L train at 14th st/6th Ave. if you are around come by, and if you aren't, write your letter in the comments and I will write it for you.
A post shared by Subway Therapy (@subwaytherapy) on Aug 24, 2017 at 2:57pm PDT
"I was out of the country when I heard about the violence in Charlottesville, but now that I'm back in New York I want to do my part to encourage conversation and give people a chance to express themselves and reflect," wrote Chavez on Instagram, announcing the new iteration of the art project.
At the end of the weekend, he collected the messages written by participants, which he plans to show on the Subway Therapy website in the future.
"I haven't had a chance to count them, but there are between 800 and 1,000 individual hand written letters and messages," he told artnet News in an email of the project's Charlottesville edition. "If you count reading notes or having a conversation with me as participation well over 10,000 people were directly involved in some way, and I can't begin to imagine how many people may have seen pictures on the news or social media."
Sarah Cascone
Monumental Lies: Charlottesville's Lee Statue Was Designed to Erase a History We Need to Remember
By Ben Davis , Aug 17, 2017
'Alt-Right' Violence in Charlottesville Fuels New Calls to Remove Confederate Monuments
By Brian Boucher , Aug 14, 2017
Post-Election 'Subway Therapy' Post-It Project Gets a New Home
By Sarah Cascone , Dec 19, 2016
Editors' Picks: 11 Things to See in New York This Week
By , Aug 28, 2017
Art Industry News: Solange Creates Art About Black Identity for Tate Modern + More Must-Read Stories