Swedish-American artist and activist Michele Pred has been creating guerrilla public art installations across the United States for years now.
In previous works, she has installed large-scale billboards illustrating the American flag with abortion pills to protest abortion bans at strategic locations, such as the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In recent months, following the Trump administration’s new policies around diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as funding cuts to public health and scientific research, Pred has projected a list of “forbidden words” onto the Guggenheim Museum, along with snappy phrases like “Money for Science, Not Oligarchs” on the U.C. Berkeley campus.
“I like to respond quickly [to political issues], and with the projections, you can be very immediate,” Pred told KQED earlier this year.
“These issues in education have been prevalent in the news this week and it made me want to seize the moment. Being able to respond in real time is helpful. The artwork is therapy.”
Although she has been creating public feminist artworks for years now, the projections began two weeks after the presidential election in November 2024.
First, Pred displayed an image urging then-President Biden to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Since then, Pred has continued her projection work — inspired by artists like Christy Chan and Alan Marling — on the Guggenheim Museum and the Federal Building in San Francisco.
But most recently, she’s taken her work to the great outdoors.
About four days ago, under the cover of night, Pred ventured out to Yellowstone National Park to project a message she said “couldn’t wait:” Stop the cuts to the national parks.
The cuts she speaks of are those led by the Department of Government Efficiency, which fired thousands of employees from the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, as well as attempts to eliminate vital federal funding that protects and stewards public lands.
Her projections included a take on her signature statement: “Money for parks, not oligarchs,” accompanied by the silhouette of a buffalo.
Another reads, “This land is your land.”
And one more shares the message, “Sacred land needs sacred care.”
“Our parks are sacred spaces — protecting wildlife, preserving history, and offering us all a connection to something bigger,” Pred shared in an Instagram post. “Slashing their funding threatens the very essence of what makes them national treasures.”
Her work is reminiscent of a recent billboard campaign which advertised the country’s national parks, but with a twist.
“Death Valley National Park,” one reads. “Heat deaths rise, safety staff cut. Made possible by D.O.G.E.”
Highlighting the need to protect these public lands, and the people who work for them, seems to be a common theme for activists under the current Trump administration.
But for Pred, it’s simply a continuation of her long-held beliefs to imbue “cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects.”
“This projection is part of my ongoing series of guerrilla public art actions, shining light (literally) on urgent issues,” Pred shared in accompaniment with her national park images.
“Our environment, our access, and our future depend on bold action now.”
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Header image courtesy of Michele Pred/Instagram
