Society’s Cage is a physical manifestation of racism in America. The main takeaway is to help visitors understand that George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s murders are not anomalies, but rather the latest examples in a 400+ year historic pattern of unmitigated, unbound, systemic, anti-Blackness in the United States.  

 Using data-informed design, the build—484 steel bars of varying lengths forming a hollowed cube—was located on the National Mall and on view from August 28 until September 12, 2020. Visitors could participate in a universal exercise of holding one’s breath, inspired by the indignities performed on George Floyd in the 8:46 in which his life was stolen. Afterwards, visitors could record a video reflection to upload to social media using an installation-specific hashtag. 

 Society’s Cage is an opportunity to acknowledge and reckon with the severity of the racial biases inherent in the institutional structures of justice in the United States.