ONLY YOU
Sarah Dunham
2024 Summer Residency
This project is part of an ongoing inquiry into how we learn about public space through Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in the United States. At the Block House on Governors Island, a series of banners are hung on the facade.
This series of banners echo the design of a PSA (defined as a message that is in the public interest) from the country’s longest-running campaign. A recognizable figure in our media ecosystem, Smokey the Bear has accompanied eighty years of messages encouraging Americans to take care within our federal forest lands. However, in this installation, his image has been removed.
By de-contextualizing the rhetorical message of this PSA, this project asks us to consider the role that a mascot plays in articulating our understanding of what is in public interest. What about the solitariness of ‘only’ is in the public interest? And, who are ‘you’ in this message?
This series of banners echo the design of a PSA (defined as a message that is in the public interest) from the country’s longest-running campaign. A recognizable figure in our media ecosystem, Smokey the Bear has accompanied eighty years of messages encouraging Americans to take care within our federal forest lands. However, in this installation, his image has been removed.
By de-contextualizing the rhetorical message of this PSA, this project asks us to consider the role that a mascot plays in articulating our understanding of what is in public interest. What about the solitariness of ‘only’ is in the public interest? And, who are ‘you’ in this message?
People
