Main Logo of Between Four Freedom on Desktop

This project is meant to be experienced at the FDR Four Freedoms State Park and its surrounding waterfront.


Between Four Freedoms

I want this to be a reinterpretation, not a rearticulation… What would the most vulnerable communities living and breathing today, especially considering the intersecting crises of the last year, say about the Four Freedoms? Freedom of worship. Freedom of speech. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear. Shaun Leonardo asks.

These images were generated through a series of workshops during which the artist collaborated with participants to reinterpret the Four Freedoms through the lens of their own lived experiences — engaging with the capacity of hand gestures to convey their truths.

The accompanying animations offer you a window into this otherwise intimate workshop process — giving you the opportunity to listen to different participants contemplate their experiences of freedom, whether withheld, barred, or actively stripped away.

The artist asks us to acknowledge that no true conversation on freedom may take place without considering that we stand on the traditional, unceded territory of the Lenape people, referred to as Minnehanonck.

Park Hours
Monday
9AM–5PM
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
9AM–5PM
Thursday
9AM–5PM
Friday
9AM–5PM
Saturday
9AM–5PM
Sunday
9AM–5PM

Workshop with Shaun Leonardo

Workshop Video 1
(01:12)
Workshop Video 2
(00:30)
Workshop Video 3
(00:34)
Workshop Video 4
(00:39)
Workshop Video 5
(00:28)
Workshop Video 6
(00:28)
Workshop Video 7
(00:44)

Press


Acknowledgement

Artist
Shaun Leonardo
Participants
Roslyn Svendsen
Ezette Douard
(pretty soundz)
Duff Norris
Dewy
Taylor Dean
Latham Butler
Amir Akram
Lynn James
Peter Yearwood
Vincent Bristow
Four Freedoms Park Conservancy Staff
Howard Axel, CEO
Darcy Groves, Project Manager
With support from Natural Heritage Trust
Barbara
Gene Kohn
Richard Lorenti
PROJECT TEAM
Alison Karasyk
Emma Seely
EXPERIENCE DESIGN & ANIMATIONS
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
John Kudos
Huiqi Fay Qiu
Christyan Juniady Setiawan
Chris Manlapid
Giovanni Adrian
VISUALS, FABRICATION & INSTALLATION
LOOKS GOOD NYC
Aziz Colmenares
Artist
Shaun Leonardo
Participants
Roslyn Svendsen
Ezette Douard
(pretty soundz)
Duff Norris
Dewy
Taylor Dean
Latham Butler
Amir Akram
Lynn James
Peter Yearwood
Vincent Bristow
Four Freedoms Park Conservancy Staff
Howard Axel, CEO
Darcy Groves, Project Manager
With support from Natural Heritage Trust
Barbara
Gene Kohn
Richard Lorenti
PROJECT TEAM
Alison Karasyk
Emma Seely
EXPERIENCE DESIGN & ANIMATIONS
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
John Kudos
Huiqi Fay Qiu
Christyan Juniady Setiawan
Chris Manlapid
Giovanni Adrian
VISUALS, FABRICATION & INSTALLATION
LOOKS GOOD NYC
Aziz Colmenares

As the organization responsible for programming FDR Four Freedoms State Park, a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Four Freedoms Park Conservancy recognizes that it is our duty to reckon with FDR’s complex presidential legacy and present programs which educate the public in new and creative ways appropriate for the modern era. Past programming produced by FFPC includes the transformation of the Grand Stairs in honor of the 19th Amendment in 2020 and World Pride in 2019, as well as the Freedom From Fear/Yellow Bowl Project by Setsuko Winchester in 2016.

Between Four Freedoms by Shaun Leonardo allows Park visitors to engage with often overlooked perspectives on the Four Freedoms expressed by President Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union Speech: Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In the context of the current economic and social divide in America, FFPC believes it is more important than ever to elevate the voices of those who have historically gone unheard.

“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice… the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.”
–PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT JR., OCTOBER 2, 1932

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