In my observation, people use public spaces for three overlapping purposes: necessity, enjoyment, and contestation. Against the backdrop of public infrastructure, workers rush through their daily commutes and unhoused individuals seek shelter. On every grassy or concrete surface, children play, joggers jog, and others relax, socialize, and attend cultural events. In gathering spaces indoor and out, coalitions protest, and residents negotiate civic priorities and historical narratives. My practice emerges from an equal consideration of all three ways of using public space, and a conviction that public art should engage as many civilians as possible.
I remix the built environment with site-specific, mixed-media sculptures that visually riff on existing architecture or infrastructure, and conceptually uncover stories from a place’s real or imagined past. My practice begins with a keen observation of elements of city landscapes that are visually intriguing but often overlooked or taken for granted. I then investigate a chosen site by exploring its present community function and conducting historical research. I ask, “What does this place remember?” and my work provides answers that range from literal to metaphorical.
I derive the form of my sculptures from extant buildings, utilities, or monuments in order to grab even the busiest pedestrians with a visual they can relate to and remember. My work whimsically subverts or otherwise animates those borrowed forms in ways that engage participants on a bodily or contemplative level. By invoking a site’s past and backing a clear perspective, my installations contribute to discourse around public memory and how certain historical narratives are elevated while others are buried.
My practice is heavily influenced by historical methodology, and archival research and conversations with scholars are integral parts of my process. If it is the role of the historian to intervene in accepted stories, it is the role of the historically-minded public artist to make those interventions tangible. Using my academic background in American history, my work is moving toward explicitly challenging the mythology of early America, critically examining industrialization, and finding hope amidst the complexities and contradictions of our present day. And yet, despite grounding my practice in scholarly research, my work is never meant to be didactic. When community members carry themselves into public space, art should rise to meet them, intrigue them, and compel them to explore and learn of their own volition. If my installation causes a commuter to pause and consider the texture of their environment; if a child climbs on my sculpture and revels in its bizarre form; if a lifelong resident of a place reconsiders its spatial history after speaking with me—that is all evidence that the work is worth making.
Watch me talk more about my work here.
—Naya Lee Chang, 2025