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Directions: Jim Hodges

August 19, 2005 - April 17, 2006

Museum: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

Location: Exterior wall above main entrance on Independence Avenue

As part of the Directions series, a monumental banner (70 feet by 25 feet) by New York-based artist Jim Hodges is featured across the building above the museum's main entrance on Independence Avenue. Hodges invited delegates to the United Nations to express the phrase "don't be afraid" in their own language and handwriting. He then combined and enlarged the writing samples of the delegates from 69 countries into a single image, creating a "global chorus" of this reassuring and encouraging message.