A new piece of art is hoping to bring a smile to Chicago drivers.
Those traveling on the Kennedy Expressway near Norwood Park can now see an inspirational message. Massive words reading “you are beautiful” have been adorned on the outside of Taft High School facing the roadway.
It’s the work of Chicago artist Matthew Hoffman’s “You Are Beautiful” project. Hoffman spreads simple and powerful messages through his art installations across the world.
“The hope is for us to share uplifting thoughts with each other,” Hoffman writes on his website.
Hoffman says he hopes the project will “better the word in little ways.”
A student at Taft who admired his work asked the artist to bring his campaign to the school in an effort bring spread positivity to the city’s Northwest Side and to “help people feel less alone,” DNAInfo reports.
When Hoffman agreed, Taft’s art department helped raise the funds necessary to lay the message on the top of the school to reach as many people as possible. It now stretches across the entire southwest corner of the building.
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The installation at the high school at 6530 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. is the artist’s highest and largest work of art to date.