Artist Installs Heartfelt 'Public Warning' Signs—and Wants Your Help Spreading Her Message

In 2016, designer and artist April Soetarman quietly began installing handmade signs around Seattle. At first glance, they look like the typical safety "warning" signs you'd find posted to chain link fences protecting a building site or other nondescript area, but a closer inspection reveals unexpected messages: "Attention, you are wonderful and deserve every happiness," one of her signs reads. "Notice, I never stopped loving you. I hope you're well," says another.

Her street art quickly gained viral fame, and now Soetarman is hoping to bring her project to more cities and make her designs accessible to the public. She's raising money for the project on Kickstarter, and she's making five of her heartfelt warning signs available to reserve through the crowdfunding website.

"The phrases are encouraging or maybe a little melancholy, but never bitter or angry," she wrote in the campaign description. "I define delight as that intersection of positive and unexpected, and I think this is something delightful that people would want to stumble across in their city."

The signs are available in heavy-duty laminated aluminum for pledges of $34 to $50, with an estimated shipping date of January. Whether you follow the artist's lead and post the art for all to see, or keep it for yourself, is your choice. "Keep one, give one away, put it up on your wall, install it yourself, up to you," the artist says on her Kickstarter page.

You can see more of Soetarman's art on her website and Instagram page.