To see artist and activist Phil America‘s latest work, ‘The Perilous Fight,’ you’ll have to head underground, run along the live railroad tracks in tunnels of a Brooklyn subway and brave the rats until you reach an abandoned platform that has been turned into an illicit pop-up gallery.
The Subway Gallery displays a series of flags embroidered with guns, each representing a different instance of gun violence in America. According to the artist’s website:
The flags are a tribute, a memory, and a reminder; they are the promise that those lost in these terrible events are not forgotten. They serve to remind that gun violence in America is so prevalent that it has become a part of our national identity.
The artist had to figure out the blueprint of the subway tunnels, time when to avoid the passing trains and run through the live tracks, avoiding the dangerous third rail. The installation takes place underground, in subterfuge, away from the eye of the MTA security. The gallery’s location is itself a statement on the cost of art spaces in New York City, and the risks of losing an artist’s voice and power in the logistics of the art world.
America told Curbed NY in an interview that much of the city’s urban exploration community has already seen the display, but he “personally don’t condone anyone going for the obvious reasons.”
There’s no certainty as to how long the exhibit will remain up. Curbed asked America whether he’s concerned about exposing himself by sharing the exhibit with the press and public. “The burden of proof is on them to prove I went down there,” he said. “If they truly want to prosecute me for trespassing to an unused space to show artwork commemorating lives lost to mass shootings, they will.”
This article was written by Laura Yan from PSFK and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
