NEW YORK.-The World Financial Center presents Homeland Security Garden - a public art project by Chang-Jin Lee. Artist Chang-Jin Lee investigates the multivalent and complex issues of safety, security and personal freedom in the post-9/11 world by asking the public to deeply consider their thoughts and feelings regarding these paramount issues. Through collaborative workshops with ethnically and socio-economically diverse groups the artist collected objects that engender a feeling of “safety” in the participants. From these objects, artworks were created that reflect the donors’ individual and collective perspectives. These small, personalized works, what she calls “safety kits,” are displayed together as a unified installation in the form of a 19th century horticultural maze. The “garden” metaphor evokes a traditional sense of home and place, while the labyrinthine form represents the difficulties of navigating the world’s current complexities.

Chang-Jin Lee is a Korean-born conceptual artist based in New York City. She has shown at The Queens Museum of Art, the Asian American Arts Centre, Van Brunt Gallery, Maxwell Fine Arts, the N.Y. International Fringe Festival, and at Storage Art Space. She is fiscally sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a recipient of The Puffin Foundation and the LMCC Manhattan Community Arts Fund.