The Last Word is a private moment for visitors to write what has never been said. Hundreds of tightly rolled pieces of paper, dyed red on one end, are placed white-side out on the wall. Participants remove one of the pieces of paper, write down their last word, and then replace the paper with the red side exposed. The public may write their own unfinished business or read how other people’s conversations might have ended.

The notes are different each time the artwork is installed. The conversations range from visitors engaging with deceased loved ones, writing messages to family members, and commemorating memories from break-ups.

The Last Word was installed at four different locations throughout the fall of 2009 in New York City: The Spring Gallery, Pratt Institute, GMHC, and at the Museum at Eldridge Street.

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Illegal Art, founded in the summer of 2001, is a collective of artists whose goal is to create participatory public art that inspires self-reflection, thought, and connection. Each piece encourages participation by making it simple.

Illegal Art is made up of artists, Otis Kriegel and Michael McDevitt. Otis lives in New York City and Michael lives in Pittsburg.

On November 3, 2018, Illegal Art Co-founder Otis Kriegel spoke at TEDx Manhattan Beach “Trail Blazers” about interactive, participatory public art.

Illegal Art often creates guerilla-style public artworks. One example is the Break-Up Wall, which was placed in Manhattan, NY. The wall invites strangers to honor their past by writing down the names of past loves. They nicknamed it the Wailing Wall of Relationships.

Illegal Art’s artwork has been featured by such media outlets as National Public Radio, WNYC Radio, American Public Radio, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Flavorpill, The Public Art Review, Dwell Magazine, International Herald Tribune, Ad Age, The Guardian, including three times being featured on the New York Times Op-Ed page.

In 2014, their project, What Color Are You?, was part of the Passport, a New Yorker Promotions event sponsored by Delta Airlines in the Lower East Side of Manhattan at the Manny Cantor Center.

They were first artist-in-residence at the 2013 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.

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