As Art Production Fund Artist-in-Residence, Candy Chang lived in the The Cosmopolitan and turned its P3 Studio gallery into a contemplative experiment around anonymity, vulnerability, and understanding in the heart of the Las Vegas strip. Inspired by Shinto shrine prayer walls, Post Secret, and the process of catharsis and consolation, she invited passersby to write confessions on wooden plaques in the privacy of confession booths. She arranged the anonymous plaques on the gallery walls, painted select responses on 5’x5’ canvases, and orchestrated the space with an original score by Oliver Blank.
Over 1500 confessions were displayed on the walls: I still love her two girlfriends and five years later, I’m scared I’ll die alone, I eat too much cheese, Came here married to one girl and left married to two girls, I sold heroin to my friend and it ruined his life, I stole over 15,000 from the company I work for, I like porn more than my husband does, I don’t know what I am doing and I’m running out of time. The project explored the potential of an anonymous sanctuary to help us console one another as we make sense of our lives. July-Aug, 2012. See all confessions on the new project site.
2012. Wood, aluminum, canvas, spray paint, acrylic, 1000 sq ft gallery space. Las Vegas, NV. Installation assistance by Abraham King, Kristina Kassem, Wendalyn Lewis, Caroline Oh. Gallery coordination by Krista Salley, Lily Tran, Casey Fremont Crowe, Sheila Marcello, Cory Mervis. Thank you to Yvonne Force Villareal.
