Asiya Wadud’s ‘Echo Exhibit’ Kicks Off LMCC’s River to River Art Festival

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council kicked off this year’s annual River to River Festival with Asiya Wadud’s “Echo Exhibit,” the first of four public art installations from a diverse lineup of professional artists. The installation is free and suited for socially-distanced viewing.

Wadud invited more than 30 Lower Manhattanites to share their thoughts before recruiting fellow writers Lara Atallah, Sevinç Çalhanoğlu, Chia-Lun Chang, Alisha Mascarenhas, Madison McCartha and Rebekah Smith to transcribe them into poetic verse for visual artist Shannon Finnegan to display around the Seaport.

The following are five contributions to the project, including from our own Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin. If you can’t make it Downtown to enjoy the verse in person, you can read all of the poems here.

River to River runs July 9 through August 30. Visit the event’s official event page for more information.

photo: Asiya Wadud