Sheryl Oring
Detroit, MI
Artist Sheryl Oring has typed thousands of postcards to the President from locations across the U.S. since launching her I Wish to Say project in 2004. Presenters include the Brooklyn Public Library, Bryant Park, University of Michigan, the National Cathedral, and many others. Her book, Activating Democracy: The I Wish to Say Project, was published by Intellect Books/University of Chicago Press. Other projects include Travel Desk, a public art commission at the San Diego International Airport, Greetings From Tampa Bay, a public art commission at the Tampa International Airport, and Maueramt, a performance and exhibition done in Berlin on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Oring is Professor and Chair of the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University in Detroit.
From the Journal
I Wish to Say
Artist Sheryl Oring has typed thousands of postcards to the President from locations across the U.S. since launching her I Wish to Say project in 2004.
Artist BioI Wish to Say is a performance work that engages public dialogue about electoral politics and implicitly examines women’s historical role as listeners. Sheryl Oring dresses as a 1960s secretary, sets up a portable public office complete with a manual typewriter in parks and flea markets across the country, and types cards to the President as dictated by passers-by for the President. The originals are mailed to the White House. Carbon copies of the cards and photographic portraits of the participants are the basis of a traveling exhibition and book.
From the Journal
Sheryl Oring tells us about her Creative Capital project I Wish To Say, a community engagement project in which she helps her audience write letters to the president. She’s been working on the project since 2004.