Paola Pivi’s Emoji Liberty Project Comes to a Head

Alaska's Yéil Yádi Olson is the fifth and final person to have his portrait appear in the project, which foregrounds stories of immigration and freedom.

Just a few weeks remain to catch Paola Pivi's High Line Commission You Know Who I Am in New York before it ends its year-long run on 5 April.

Pivi used a plaster cast of the original model of the Statue of Liberty to create a 16-foot-tall bronze replica. Over the past year, five emoji-esque masks have appeared on the Statue's face, each based on real people chosen for their pursuit of freedom.

The first four people depicted in the project were: Forbah, an asylum seeker from Cameroon; Mahnaz Akbari, who was evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021; Marco Saavedra, a Bronx restaurateur and 'Dreamer' from Mexico; and Norbu, a Tibetan who Pivi and her husband adopted in India when he was five.

Pivi said You Know Who I Am connects the classical world, contemporary society, and the constant flow of friendly, colourful images on our devices.

'It's a shortcut for the story of a single individual, whomever that person is, within the bigger system, exposing how the two are directly linked,' she said.

In the course of creating and showing the work, Pivi said the thoughts she'd had about freedom could fill a book.

The subject was heightened for the artist as she fought through 135 hearings for the right to adopt Norbu.

'When I conceived the piece for the High Line in 2016, my freedom was constrained by the personal attacks against me and my family by some prominent Tibetan elites in exile in India.'

'At the same time, the Indian court system was protecting me and guaranteeing my freedom,' she said.

Ultimately, after the legal battle escalated to the Supreme Court of India, Pivi was victorious. She acknowledged that only people with sufficient education, time, and the funds to relocate to India and spend on legal fees could pull off such a victory. Nevertheless, she said there was 'something divine' about justice.

'My son and I were fascinated by one good, welcoming, and encompassing law of the United States: the child of a U.S. citizen, biological or adopted, no matter where they are from, no matter if they have papers or not, once they land on U.S. soil immediately will become a U.S. citizen, in a straightforward, anti-bureaucratic, and almost magical way.'

Norbu's fascination with the Statue of Liberty as a magical talisman was a key inspiration for the project.

Yéil Yádi Olson was recently revealed as the fifth and final person to lend his likeness to You Know Who I Am.

Like Pivi, Olson lives in Alaska. His father's family immigrated to America from Scandinavia after the American Civil War, and his mother's family are Tlingit, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Through his maternal grandfather, Pivi said Olson represents 'the freedom removed from Indigenous people when their children were deported to the boarding schools to be Americanised'.

Olson said he was proud to be part of Pivi's artwork, but that he wasn't a great believer in the trappings of American freedom.

'When I see the Statue of Liberty, or hear the national anthem, pride and respect are the furthest emotions I feel,' Olson said. 'I believe Indigenous TikTok creators have done more for our message and identity than anything in the very short history of the U.S.'

'I'm happy people will learn a tiny bit about southeast Alaska's Tlingit people through me, but in reality our stories should be taught in schools and not in an art installation,' he continued.

Pivi said she was pleased with the attention the project has garnered.

'I have been thrilled with an overwhelming positive response and how people smile and approach it, take photos and selfies, and read the label and learn about the person,' Pivi said.

'I see more people than usual make a beeline towards the quite small sign looking for more information.' —[O]