Public Address

Public Address is a socially engaged artwork aimed at destigmatizing homelessness by providing a platform for people living and working in city shelters to address the greater public. Strada has held log writing workshops in dozens of shelters across the boroughs, where participants are invited to hand write or draw their own log entries to challenge misperceptions about homelessness and provide space for personal reflection. Traditionally an internal form of record-keeping, these logs will instead be used for public testimony, expression, and engagement.

The handwritten and drawn log entries will be printed onto aluminum street signs at the City’s Department of Transportation print shop. One will be installed in each of NYC’s 59 community districts, and large-scale installations will be placed in each borough. Organized and curated by Storefront for Art and Architecture, the project will debut in Manhattan at Lt. Petrosino Square in October 2025 and then travel across the city over the course of a year. 

As Public Address travels and iterates, public programs will address wealth inequality, migrant justice, the criminalization of homelessness, and alternative systems such as mutual aid, tenants’ unions, and community land trusts.