Light the Barricades

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 resentment, judgment, and doubt—qualities that increasingly dominate American life today. Passersby are invited to read an illustrated fable along the length of the facade before sitting for a five-minute reflection with an illuminated hourglass and a topical question.

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. Extending into the museum, the project invited visitors to anonymously share their obstacles while considering the experiences of others through a 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.