25. (SoHo)

In a neighborhood that decades before was home to countless artists and galleries but has long since been dominated by pricey condos and showrooms for global luxury brands, worry over impending anti-racism protests convinces most businesses in the area, already reeling from a pandemic, to board up every inch of their storefronts with plywood. In an unanticipated response, street artists flock to the deserted streets and cover the plywood sheets with vibrant expressions of grief, anger and hope. Soon the neighborhood is once again filled with art, much of it anonymous or by artists who use invented names to protect themselves from legal consequences. Distinctly not anonymous, however, are the many victims of police violence whose names and faces cry out for justice amid the bland expanses of wood veneer.

(Optimo NYC, Lola Lovenotes, Matthew Mazur, Sule, Adam Fu, Duel RIS, Hektad, Fabio Esteban, et al.)