From the introduction: 

At the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, we envision Los Angeles as a region in which arts and culture are integral to civic life. We believe that culture is a human right—all people deserve access to the arts, with opportunity to participate in the cultural life of the community, regardless of their background, race, gender, geography, or social status.

One of the ways we fulfill our vision of cultural equity is through our Civic Art Division where we proudly commission artists to create original site-specific artworks for County facilities and spaces. The impact of civic art in civic spaces can extend well beyond aesthetics. One of the most profound benefits, in my view, is its potential to shift narratives—helping us view life through another’s eyes, increase understanding of racial injustice, express ourselves, and expand the stories and identities we see for ourselves and the people around us.

Each of our Civic Art commissions includes a community engagement process in which the artists explore and interact with the County department and communities that live, work, or participate in services where the artwork will be placed. An innovation for this project was to have artists learn first-hand of the daily work of the Public Defenders Office before they even created artwork proposals. After our Civic Art team facilitated the artist selection process, the eight commissioned artists shadowed public defense attorneys, spent time in offices and courtrooms, pursued and chronicled the often-unheard stories of Public Defender staff and clients, and researched the department’s history to inform their artworks…