"Declare Your Liberty" community poem
Philadelphia International Airport
- July 2025
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For the month of July 2025, passengers and crew were invited to add their words to the community poem at Philadelphia International Airport. The PHL Airport Art cart was set up in various terminals and passersby were encouraged to share what LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS means to them.
As Philly celebrates almost 250 years since the birth of our nation it seems like a perfect time to return to those original declarations and add our own modern reflection of what it means to be American, as well as citizens to the greater world.
On weekdays throughout the month of July, the public typewriters were available to the public to “Declare Your Liberty!” Participants wrote about what freedoms are still valued and what “Liberty” can mean to people alive today.
All kinds of people interacted with the installation. From typewriter enthusiasts who shared their nostalgia at seeing these timeless machine put to creative use. To travelers returning home from extended trips abroad excited about the rights they are bestowed or becoming advocates for change after seeing how life is different elsewhere. We had at least ten languages compiled in the poem reflective of Philadelphia’s melting pot, and the international visitors we welcome each day. I even met former English teachers and current literature professors excited at seeing poetry have an impact.
Witnessing all the varied interactions has been quite refreshing. A little dose of unity and community and humanity amidst the passengers, flight crew, and airport staff that had a minute to spare.
Each keystroke click clack like the sound of drum taps. Every word and verse, typos and all, offering sentiment to harmonies of heart.
As Philly celebrates almost 250 years since the birth of our nation it seems like a perfect time to return to those original declarations and add our own modern reflection of what it means to be American, as well as citizens to the greater world.
On weekdays throughout the month of July, the public typewriters were available to the public to “Declare Your Liberty!” Participants wrote about what freedoms are still valued and what “Liberty” can mean to people alive today.
All kinds of people interacted with the installation. From typewriter enthusiasts who shared their nostalgia at seeing these timeless machine put to creative use. To travelers returning home from extended trips abroad excited about the rights they are bestowed or becoming advocates for change after seeing how life is different elsewhere. We had at least ten languages compiled in the poem reflective of Philadelphia’s melting pot, and the international visitors we welcome each day. I even met former English teachers and current literature professors excited at seeing poetry have an impact.
Witnessing all the varied interactions has been quite refreshing. A little dose of unity and community and humanity amidst the passengers, flight crew, and airport staff that had a minute to spare.
Each keystroke click clack like the sound of drum taps. Every word and verse, typos and all, offering sentiment to harmonies of heart.
This project was an Artist Partnership
in collaboration with
Art at PHL
with additional typewriters provided by
Philly Typewriter
July 2025 |
Philadelphia, PA |
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Participants reciting their poems about what Liberty means to them: |
“Declare Your Liberty”, interactive typewriter installation by Marshall James Kavanaugh (@dreampoetforhire)
Thank you so much to Helen, Ahmed, Ursula, Sofia, Carlos and everyone else from the airport art department or the endless support in bringing this project to fruition.
Public Typewriters provided by Philly Typewriter. Thanks so much to Bill and Bryan and the mechanics at the shop for their endless enthusiasm in everything related to the #typewriterrevolution
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All imagery and content © 2026 Marshall James Kavanaugh. All Rights Reserved.
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