To mark the 160th anniversary of “Wide Awakes Grand Procession” — the historic three-mile march through Chicago in support of abolition — Crown created an installation for the windows of her downtown Chicago studio. She melded imagery from the newly reformed Wide Awakes movement and her own graphic interpretation of an open eye. The installation kept watch over busy N. Michigan Ave. and Millennium Park throughout the 2020 presidential election season.

Created with dichroic film, a medium that Crown has explored in various artworks, the installation behaved like a living object that constantly changed with the sunlight and position of the viewer. Usually a closed-off, private work space, Crown’s studio became a place where passing motorists and pedestrians had an opportunity for their own awakening.