Have you ever tried to find a pay phone in LA? Would you even know how to use it? Artists Adam Trunell and Alexis Wood found about 20 of these still-functioning devices. The duo put stickers on them that invited people to call a toll-free number and leave a goodbye message (to anyone or anything) before the phones are gone. Folks left final words to friends, loved ones, and even their past selves. So far, Trunell and Wood have collected thousands of messages for their project, which they call The Goodbye Line.
The idea came on a rainy day when the two were discussing loss, Trunell explains. “We realized that there were maybe a lot of spaces to talk about loss, in online forums … in a comment in a social media post. But we didn't really get to do that with our actual voices. And then somehow pay phones entered the chat, and Alexis made a sticker, and we were off to hunt payphones in Los Angeles.”
Wood says early on, they found and tapped into a community of payphone enthusiasts; then studied photos of payphones on Instagram and noted street signs or business names in the background to find these locations in real life. Wood says the hunt became their favorite weekend activity.
Why have people bid goodbye, rather than use the payphones differently? Because we don’t get the chance to say goodbye in some situations, Trunell points out.
Wood adds, “With the goodbyes, it was a great link to the payphones themselves. Doing this project, even over the past year, year and a half, we passed by payphones that were there two days ago that are now disappearing. So that was a beautiful marriage of having a space where people could say goodbye, and then also doing it in a space that was quickly disappearing.”
One person left this message using a payphone in Skid Row, which Trunell and Wood posted on the project’s Instagram: “My name is Brittany. I want to say goodbye to my old self that was innocent, pure, and young. Now I’m in LA, hooked on cocaine powder, and I feel like I’m a different person. I feel like I am not myself anymore, and I just, I want to say goodbye to the old me that cared about everything. And hopefully I’ll get to see that person again. But for right now, my main mission is to make money to get some more powder cocaine so I can feel myself, so I can feel like I’m alive again.”
Since Brittany shared her Instagram handle with the project, Trunell contacted her to get permission before posting. He notes, “You take a little bit of responsibility for people's grief and their loss and their words and their voice, and you want to do justice to that.”
Wood says she and Trunell discuss, dissect, and process the calls on the backend, and the messages are wide-ranging.
“Some people … want to share a memory. They want to honor someone. Some people, it's very recent for them, they might be talking about someone that has passed weeks ago, or it might be an anniversary of someone. … They talk as if they are speaking directly to that person, and then they also talk and just share … something beautiful that reminds them of the person that they've lost,” explains Wood.
For example: “Mom, I didn’t get the chance to say anything to ya the morning you passed. The night before, we actually argued about grades. I was in middle school. [Long pause]. You were upset about my grades, and you felt that I might kinda squander my education, things like that. But I think you’d be pretty proud if you could see where I’m at now. It’s not the best in the world, but I did something with my life. So I love you, and I miss you. And this has been a long overdue goodbye.”
Trunell says this project stops him in his tracks daily.
“You hear a voice, and you're suddenly in somebody else's heartbreak. And then you walk down the street, and you pass a stranger, and you remember that we're all carrying something that we all love, that we're all loved, that we all say goodbye, and we get said goodbye to, that we'll miss each other, and we'll be missed. The line, it just listens, it doesn't judge, it doesn't interrupt, it doesn't try to make things okay. It just listens, and takes what you give it without question, and holds it. And I think for some people, that's enough, and that's what we'd like to create for people … that space.”
Wood adds, “It's a really beautiful and constant reminder to hold your people a little bit tighter, say ‘I love you,’ pick up the phone. And we're reminded of that every day through listening to these messages.”