SIGN OF THE TIMES: Freedom Cannot Be Simulated
MENOKIN ARTSCAPE IS OUR FIRST EVER OUTDOOR ART EXHIBIT, WITH THIS YEAR’S THEME BEING SELF-EMANCIPATION, TO COMMEMORATE AMERICA’S 250TH.
AS VISITORS EXPLORE MENOKIN’S GROUNDS, THEY WILL SEE 3 ART INSTALLATIONS COMMENTING ON THE 250TH, THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT FREEDOM MEANS TO THEM.
As you approach the Remembrance Structure, you will see the reflective words of “Freedom”, a visual juxtaposition of that word on a site where the archaeological footprints of enslaved cabins were found in the early 2000’s. The individual metal pallets that make up this piece reflect the light and create a shimmering sound as the wind blows through. As you get closer, you’ll see the words “Cannot Be Simulated” in red. This piece was made by Lynda Andrews-Barry, one of the exhibiting artists for Menokin Artscape 2026.
"SIGN OF THE TIMES: Freedom Cannot Be Simulated" examines the tension between the promise of freedom and its lived reality at Menokin and within the American landscape. The work draws a clear distinction between freedom as image, language, or performance and freedom as action.
At Menokin, the rhetoric of liberty existed alongside enslavement. Self-emancipation was not symbolic. It required risk, movement, and the physical act of leaving. This installation asserts that freedom cannot be declared, marketed, or staged. It must be taken.
Mediums: steel, aluminum, brass, mechanical fasteners
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Lynda Andrews-Barry is a multidisciplinary artist whose research-driven practice spans large-scale public art, installation, time-based media, and fabricated sculpture. Her work examines land, infrastructure, environmental systems, and layered histories, translating complex civic and ecological narratives into site-responsive visual systems. Working with found materials and industrial fabrication processes, Andrews-Barry investigates environmental stewardship, cultural memory, and public witnessing. Her projects often function as visual timelines or spatial diagrams, connecting past and present through mapped terrain, continuous line, and engineered form. Her work has been exhibited, commissioned, and collected nationally, including presentations at the National Building Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. Her public art installations have been realized across Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida. She holds a BA in Interior Design from Mount Vernon College and an MA in Exhibition Design from The Corcoran College of Art + Design. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Washington Sculptors Group and is Editor of "The Washington Sculptor". She is a member of the premier cohort of Environmental Justice Artivist Fellows with Social Art and Culture DC, supported by the Aspen Institute.