Cardboard Label

We've all seen people holding signs reading something like "HOMELESS / PLEASE HELP", or "VIETNAM VET / PLEASE HELP / GOD BLESS". I'm always skeptical of the information presented on those signs. Is that man really a veteran? Is that woman really homeless? I have wondered what it would be like if the signs were, in fact, truthful. But further, what if they were not only honest, but more specific?

 

The Project

Each day I make a new sign using a black Sanford's Marker (King Size) on a rectangular piece of cardboard about 14" x 16". I will display my sign to cars stopped at a busy intersection during peak traffic times. My signs will be specific particular to my own personal life and experience.

I plan to remain in the same location throughout the duration of the project, to allow a sense of a narrative of myself, an autobiography of sorts, to trickle into the minds of those driving by.

The Location

The intersection at Ashland and Clybourn has a red light of one minute and twenty seconds. Clybourn is a diagonal street, and the intersection itself sits just a short distance from Fullerton to the north. There's a bit of a median where the left turn lane is, but other than that I have to carry my sign between cars.

One thing this intersection has going for it is dramatic effect. You reach it just as you're coming down the bridge where Ashland spans the Chicago River. I remember a sunburned, mustached, burly Russian looking man who used this intersection a summer or two ago. You'd come over the hill and you'd come upon this big, red, imposing man holding a sign that said "HOMELESS / PLEASE HELP/GOD BLESS". It was an impressive sight.

To me, this is a typically American intersection. There's a Wendy's at its southwest corner, an Amoco to its northwest. To the northeast is a big brown modular apartment building of about four or five stories. To the southeast is a Kinko's. Just beyond the Kinko's set into the street off of Clybourn is a two-story Salvation Army thrift store.

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