Ed Woodham on Queer Art, Activism, and Art in Odd Places

Hyperallergic interviews Ed Woodham, the 69-year-old Atlanta-born artist, curator, and educator behind Art in Odd Places, a public art group he co-founded for Atlanta's 1996 Summer Olympics and relaunched after 9/11 in response to the PATRIOT Act. Since 2005, the group has held annual street festivals along 14th Street in Manhattan, becoming a New York fixture. Its 20th edition in 2025 invited participants to "do nothing" as an act of resistance. Woodham also teaches "Social Malpractice Art" at the School of Visual Arts, where students create covert performances challenging corporate artwashing. In the interview, Woodham discusses coming out in 1976 at Middle Georgia College, his mentorship through the queer collective TABOO in Atlanta, and his influences including Paulo Freire, Linda Mary Montano, and William Pope L. He reflects on the AIDS crisis, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and his sologamist wedding to himself on June 15, 2025, at KoKo Lot in Brooklyn. Upcoming projects include the premiere of "Love Saves the Day" documentary on July 11, 2026, an August residency at Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Vermont, Art in Odd Places 2026: UTOPIAS on September 26-27 along 14th Street, and a December 2026 exhibition at Galería LANDS in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.