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Neon artists resisting censorship by illuminating banned words. Please help The Banned Word Project get to Washington D.C. this December!
Across federal agencies, hundreds of words and phrases have been removed, restricted, or flagged in government websites, communications, research proposals, and funding applications.
The language being targeted is the language communities need to name who we are, describe the challenges we face, conduct vital research, and fight for a more just and livable future.
According to PEN America, the growing list now contains over 350 terms connected to identity, climate science, equity, and public health.
The entire list can be found HERE
This is not just censorship–it is an act of bureaucratic violence.
When institutions restrict the language people rely on to describe their lives and advocate for their communities, the harm is material. Research loses funding. Resources become harder to access. Histories are obscured. Entire communities and urgent realities are pushed further out of public view.
THE BANNED WORD PROJECT REFUSES THAT ERASURE.
Nearly 40 artists and sign-makers, from 13 states, have joined forces to transform targeted words into glowing works of NEON–making them impossible to ignore.
We are fundraising to present The Banned Word Project exhibition at Homme Gallery, in Washington D.C., December 2026. Donations directly support installation costs, exhibition materials, and one of our curators driving cross-country to transport nearly 100 fragile neon pieces and glass art works from Seattle to Washington D.C.–more than 2,700 miles–to bring the Banned Word Project to the nation’s capital.
Please support independent artist voices building community to make sure these important words, and the freedom to use them, are seen and celebrated in glowing neon. With light we can push back the forces trying to plunge us into darkness.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 1st December 2026 at 2:49pm CST