Freedom Trail Photo Shoot: Taking Another Look at Freedom

In the summer of 2018, in reaction to White House policies on family separation at the U.S./Mexico border, I felt compelled to respond with creative action. I made a life-size cardboard cutout of a child in a cage to take along the Freedom Trail and photograph at each site in Boston. The intent was to revisit these sites we honor as part of our history and reflect on the beginnings of our nation and whether or not the actions of our government that summer represented what we claim to stand for - and against - as a country.

My prop was a two-sided cutout on cardboard, with a silhouette of a child in a red, white and blue painted cage on each side. One side was a boy and the other a girl, so I alternated as I went along the trail, which begins at the Boston Common, and ends at Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown (Due to time restraints, the 2 Charlestown sites were added later in 2019). The trail winds through the congested streets of the city, juxtaposing colonial life and contemporary life (the Old Corner Bookstore is now a Chipoltle), as it tells a story of a struggle for freedom, as well as the ongoing struggle with human nature to include freedom for all - illustrated by the debate over the history of Faneuil Hall as a site of slave trading in contrast to its reputation as “the Cradle of Liberty".