You have four days left to walk underneath it.
“A Forest of You,” the fourth edition of Dashboard’s Alleywave public art installation in Fairburn, Georgia, closes May 24. Produced by Dashboard in collaboration with the City of Fairburn, the project transforms 119 feet of a downtown alley into a canopy of hundreds of community-designed fabric panels. The Atlanta-based artist behind the work, Sanithna Phansavanh, designed it with one goal: to give visitors a moment of peace in the middle of an ordinary day.
Phansavanh drew on two unlikely sources — Japanese shinrin-yoku, the practice of forest bathing, and Fairburn’s railroad history. Fairburn community members colored the panels, choosing templates and colors freely.
In the piece’s final week, Phansavanh talked with Rough Draft Atlanta about distraction, collaboration, and why the most poetic thing about public art is that it disappears.
You described people being distracted by what’s “unimportant or unnecessary.” Were you describing something you’ve experienced yourself, or something you observed in others?
Certainly both. Not being completely present in a moment — where I’m forgetting the preciousness of time, where I’m simultaneously in a failure of the past and in a fear of the future, or where I’m not allowing myself the fullness of an emotion — is a constant struggle. That sense of distraction is something that I’ve experienced, and still experience, and I see it reflected in where we, as a society, put our collective focus. That stretches from macroscopic issues, incredibly important needs and responsibilities that affect the world itself, down to how we personally treat ourselves, our loved ones, and our neighbors. Distractions are everywhere in our everyday lives, both by coercion and by invitation, and it can be a real challenge to sidestep them. But it’s always worth trying, especially in a way that emphasizes mindfulness.
This year’s panels reference Fairburn’s railroad history. How do you bridge something as kinetic and industrial as a train with something as still and meditative as forest bathing in a single visual system?
A part of that is just reframing perspective. Reducing the railroad imagery to representative shapes allows the pieces to be reformed and presented in a different way. The other part of it is a practice of the concept itself. How can energy and vibrancy be guided in a way that aligns with what’s needed? There’s not an exact formula for it, but it does involve intention, patience, and a willingness to try.
What drew you to this particular project?
I was excited by the opportunity to create work for such a unique space and purpose, in a city that I’ve never shown work in, and with an organization that I’ve always admired. The project offered a wonderful mixture of challenge and exploration that I really value, and I jumped at the chance to do it.
As part of the process, you gave participants templates, then free rein. What surprised you most when you saw what people did with the designs?
What I loved most were the creative decisions that felt like they were made through play and intuition. Colors were used that didn’t follow theory and extended beyond my preferred palette. Patterns were created in spaces that weren’t meant to be drawn in. It was so fun to have my own artistic rhythm thrown off-kilter like that. Not knowing what I would get in return, and trying to find a way to make disparate elements cohesive, was a welcomed exercise. It became a conversation through art.
” … there’s an existential beauty in having work that disappears. Because nothing lasts forever, you just have to enjoy and appreciate what’s there when it’s there.
Artist Sanithna Phansavanh
You’ve shown work at the High Museum, on the Atlanta Beltline, through Living Walls, and through the City of Atlanta’s public art programs. How does working in Fairburn differ from working within Atlanta’s established arts infrastructure?
There’s an inherent scale and exposure difference, but nothing felt minimized or overlooked. And, most importantly, there was a collaborative relationship, that Dashboard, helped to foster between the city, the community, and myself. Fundamentally, I wanted the project to be as considerate as possible to Fairburn. The alley itself inspired the use of the shinrin-yoku concept, because I wanted to insert nature, even in an artificial way, into the space created by the buildings. And I wanted it done in a way that honored the community and the city.
‘A Forest of You’ spans 119 feet of suspended, colored satin panels. What does designing for that scale require of you that a gallery show or mural does not?
Considering how the panels would flow together above a viewer, in an integrated and harmonious way, was definitely a unique element to the project. But beyond that, the design thinking stayed the same for how I’d approach a physical experience for a gallery or a mural. You still want to provide an entry, an immersion, and an exit for the space, either through composition or narrative. There still has to be a balance between what’s seen in detail and what’s seen in whole. Establishing the mood, from the walls to the light, is still a factor as well.
The installation comes down May 24. Public art is by nature temporary. How do you make peace with that?
When I first began my mural practice, I really struggled with the temporary nature of public art. Pieces are always replaced or painted over. But I eventually realized that the ephemeral quality was actually the most poetic part of the experience. In that same spirit of treasuring the present, there’s an existential beauty in having work that disappears. Because nothing lasts forever, you just have to enjoy and appreciate what’s there when it’s there.
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What do you want someone who just stumbles into that alley to feel in the 30 seconds they spend walking underneath it?
I hope that the piece offers a moment of peace. A moment to be fully present, to slow down and to be mindful. A moment to pause and breathe. A moment for delight and joy. A moment without worries, where all that you do is watch the fabric wave in the breeze and see the light shimmer through the colors.
“A Forest of You” is on view at 26 W. Campbellton St. in downtown Fairburn through May 24.
