INSIDE STORY

FREEDOM TO LOVE

Michael Cardacino

THE BEGINNING

IT STARTED WITH A BATHROOM SIGN

We see these little figures everywhere.

One means man. One means woman.

You don't have to think about it. You already

know the code.

But people aren't

that simple.

A familiar public symbol became the starting point for a much larger question.

SO I STARTED PLAYING WITH THE SIGNS

BREAKING THE CODE

What happens if the skirt doesn't tell you who the person is?

What happens if breasts, genitals, color and body shape stop giving you one simple answer?

The familiar symbols began turning into individuals.

And once that happened,

another question appeared:

Who gets to

love whom?

THE SCULPTURE

THE LITTLE SIGNS GOT BIG

I made them nearly human-size and stood them together in a circle.

Now you couldn't take them in all at once. You had to walk around them.

Different bodies. Different colors. Different combinations.

Nobody stood outside the circle.

THE CIRCLE KEPT EXPANDING

FREEDOM TO LOVE

Once the figures existed, I began putting them together. Man and woman. Woman and woman. Man and man. And combinations that didn't fit those simple descriptions at all.

The hearts were the easiest part.

A heart didn't need to know which restroom you used.

FREEDOM TO LOVE

We spend a lot of time deciding what to call one another.

The figures eventually stopped asking.

They just made room.