Tucked just off Massachusetts Avenue on Linden Street sits a narrow glass art display that was once a Bank of America ATM. Illuminated and on view to passersby around the clock, the display space is aptly named the “25/8 artspace.”
The display space features a rotating exhibition by local artists, with an emphasis on work by artists also employed by museums. The space is operated by an art collective called Behind VA Shadows, an organization dedicated to providing community and opportunities for museum employees to showcase their creative work. Behind VA Shadows initially existed as an online community without a physical space until a partnership with Denise Jillson, the Executive Director of the Harvard Square Business Association; the partnership allowed them to open the 25/8 artspace for exhibitions in Harvard Square in the summer of 2023.
Boston-based artist and museum employee Yolanda He Yang founded Behind VA Shadows in late 2022. At the time, Yang was working as a Visitor Assistant at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, hence the acronym “VA” in the project’s title. Visitor Assistants are the frontline museum employees who greet patrons and keep watch over the art. Yang stated that she initially formed Behind VA Shadows not out of some grand vision but out of necessity, seeking to maintain community with her fellow VAs at a time when COVID-19 measures made it difficult. Yang shared that masking and social distancing made museum work challenging for frontline employees such as Visitor Assistants.
“All the frontline staff, social workers, were facing a big issue, which [was the] pandemic, and people were not able to, of course, not able to have the masks off, and at the same time, they [had] to provide [the] same quality and same time duration of time in the gallery,” Yang explained. Despite the physical separation between Yang and her colleagues, the pandemic was actually when she began to feel a strong community with her fellow Visitor Assistants.
“Maybe for the first time, I felt a sense of belonging to be part of the VA family, because the nature of the Institution really consumes frontline staff,” Yang said. “I think it is definitely a challenge, but also [an] opportunity for us to bond together even tighter than before.”
When asked where she got the idea to start Behind VA Shadows, Yang replied, “It was not an idea. I think it was [about how] when you really cherish something, you just really want to hold it.” When she immigrated to the United States in 2019, it put the community she had built at the ICA in jeopardy. “I was facing my visa issues back at the time, and I was not able to find other ways that I could hold all the friends I met in my VA family, except doing something together,” she explained. Thus, Yang began Behind VA Shadows.
Although it began as just an avenue for museum workers to find community and a creative outlet, the project has now expanded into a critical vehicle for visibility; additionally, it has transformed into an innovative project that works to remove institutional barriers between art and the public.
Behind VA Shadows expanded its vision of community, with members now collectively agreeing that the project serves other important purposes, such as complicating the line between labor and art.“I think labor usually is a topic that people don’t really dissect, such as, what kind of people, what kind of groups, would face what kind of labors, and then what are the labors that really are on scene,” Yang said.
Under the current political administration, spotlighting these workers has become critical to Yang. “I think visibility is definitely a big reason or mission that we want to enhance, especially under this very strict and very—it’s not even strict, like, anti-humanity administration,” Yang explained. This community of artists and museum workers has always been largely composed of vulnerable minorities from different parts of society. “How can we protect this community? When I say ‘this community,’ it’s people who really contribute their time and their labor to the art and cultural sector,” Yang said. “This community is overlapped with so many marginalized groups, such as students [or] LGBTQ+ groups.”
The current exhibition is a perfect example of the space thoroughly fulfilling its primary missions of visibility and community. The exhibit, titled “After Flood” by Eben Haines, takes an interest in the effects of climate change on affordable housing. The exhibit showcases various pieces of furniture, all eclectically arranged. A sheer layer of white paint, gradually increasing in size, coats the bottom slivers of each window, intended to represent rising water levels and, in turn, the drastic effects of floods.
Yang noted that the exhibit is highly site-specific. “[The artist] wanted to make it almost monumental in such a linear and narrow space,” Yang said. She then explained that having such a unique public-facing art space in Harvard Square challenges artists to experiment with ways they can use the display area to convey their message.
Behind VA Shadows forces us to question the definition of creative labor. Where most artists cannot survive on an income from their art alone, they flock to arts-adjacent jobs, such as ushers, museum positions like Visitor Assistants, and more. Behind VA Shadows is a unique project that allows creatives to reconcile their dual identities as both artists and arts workers.
Furthermore, the highly accessible nature of the space allows for art to reach individuals who may not normally be able to view art in an institution like a museum. On Oct. 28, 2024, Behind VA Shadows shared an Instagram post about how an unhoused person sitting by the 25/8 artspace told the artist how much he enjoyed the art on display.
“The cool thing about public art is that it reaches people who might otherwise not go to a museum or gallery space,” the caption read. “It’s been a pleasure to have these more traditionally indoor pieces be displayed in such [a] public manner.”
It is clear that the 25/8 artspace thoroughly achieves its goals of making art more accessible to the public while also helping the identities of traditionally obscured community members and laborers, such as museum workers, to become more visible. By allowing art to exist in a controlled environment yet be constantly on display for the public, the space acts as a beautiful compromise to the perpetual struggle between preservation and accessibility that exists in traditional museum institutions.
Yang shared a highly hopeful outlook for the future of Behind VA Shadows. She cited the initial disembodied, unlocalized nature of the organization as the source of her confidence in the longevity of the project. Yang is confident that Behind VA Shadows will expand beyond and outlive the 25/8 artspace should that particular space no longer be available in the future.
“I think, for the future, the physicality of this space is not defined by any architectural hosts. It’s defined by who [is] in this community, [and] who is doing something in this community, which are all the museum workers…I’m not very worried about when they will lose this space,” Yang said.
Behind VA Shadows maintains an open call for any artists interested in getting involved or showcasing their work. They are also working on their first “Catalog,” an annual publication for which they are currently seeking submissions and collaborators. More information can be found on the Behind VA Shadows website and Instagram.
Kayla Reifel ’26 (kaylareifel@college.harvard.edu) thinks the 25/8 artspace is best contemplated on a late-night walk home with a slice of pizza in hand.