Raque Ford: A little space for you right under my shoe

Presented on the building facade on Horatio Street across from the Whitney and The High Line is a newly commissioned work by multimedia artist Raque Ford (b. 1986, Columbia, Maryland; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York). The lines “A little space for you / right under my shoe,” excerpted from an original poem by Ford, wave through a collage of shoe prints and graphic shapes. Ford presents these words along with the imposing image of stomping shoes to create a work that can be interpreted on multiple registers of meaning for the pedestrians below. Ford’s practice is noted for its layered use of text, images, and media, particularly commercial materials. Working within the traditions of Pop art and Minimalism, she remixes visual and linguistic symbols of popular culture to consider and unsettle the ways that private subjectivity is shaped by socially-determined codes. 

This project is organized by Roxanne Smith, Senior Curatorial Assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

This work is part of a series of public art installations organized by the Whitney in partnership with TF Cornerstone and High Line Art.