Light the Barricades is an interactive public art installation that reimagines the wall as a site for contemplating our inner obstructions. From September 6 through September 22, the walls will be installed at three locations across Los Angeles — the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park. Created by Candy Chang (the artist behind the popular Before I Die public art project) and James A. Reeves, this project is inspired by the ancient I Ching, a philosophical system of diagrams first carved into the wall of a prison cell 3,000 years ago. Illuminated from within, similar to a photographer’s lightbox, each of the three walls represents an emotional barrier — resentment, judgment, and doubt — and offers an introspective site for visitors. It begins with a walk along its façade where a short fable on the subject leads the viewer along before they turn the corner to sit and reflect on their experience and emotional wellbeing. By reconfiguring the experience of contemplative Chinese landscape scrolls, luminaries, and private devotional images, Light the Barricades provides a modern ritual for distracting times and offers an engaging opportunity to contemplate walls both physically and emotionally as part of the W|ALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine at Annenberg Space for Photography.