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.