2019-2020

Donut Mart

Northeast corner of University and Lomas

Artists

Lead Artist Sara Rivera, with support from Ellen Babcock and Lindsey Fromm

The remaining structures at the former Donut Mart site at the corner of Lomas and University were slated for imminent demolition, so Friends of the Orphan Signs decided to post messages on it’s orphaned sign while the lot’s fate was in limbo. The only letters that we had to use were from the last message the business put up. This made creating sign poems an exercise in the poetics of limitation. We posted every poem on our Instagram @donutmart, and at one point a post went viral!

We displayed this project in the For Freedoms exhibition at the UNM Art Museum, asking visitors to take a polaroid of their messages made with our limited letters. We then posted as many as possible on the Donut Mart sign before the sign was taken down in the Spring of 2019. At the opening, children loved interacting with the letters and spelling out simple messages.