Originally created for a Times Square billboard in 1987, this artwork was inspired by Alfredo Jaar’s surprising observation about the use of the word “America” in the United States. In his native Chile, “America” referred to all of North and South America, rather than just the United States. For Jaar, the work “started as a very modest gesture, trying to correct a language,” by calling attention to the obvious truth that on a map, “America” extends across the entire hemisphere.