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The Story of the Hope Shrine

This Shrine to Hope was installed in October of 2010 at what was then the northern terminus of the Highline Park in Chelsea. Originally part of a bigger series of shrines to different ideas/values, this shrine quickly took on a life of it's own. Shedding any of the original irony it was created with it became a repository of people's hopes.

 

From the start visitors wanted a way to interact and leave a piece of themselves, money has been quite popular - offerings of candy were also popular as well as bits of paper and hair clips. After a couple months of this and finding the shrine overflowing with offerings, I began putting out tags that people could write on. These were an immediate success and were used up almost as soon as I put them out. The things written have a huge range with: love, jobs, and healthy babies being among the most popular. It was truly inspiring to see the shrine thrive and enrich people's lives.

 

The Shrine to Hope lasted just over two years (a really long time for illeagal street art) it disappeared the Friday before Hurricane Sandy hit the city. Who took it down or where it went is unknown.

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