Next time you fly out of Denver International Airport’s Concourse B, look up.
You’ll notice a brightly colored art installation made from old suitcases. The new piece is called “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back” and it’s the clever creation of Denver-based artist Thomas “Detour” Evans.
Now part of the airport’s permanent public art collection, the sculpture was inspired by the idea that life is always in perpetual motion and that it’s our luggage that carries the items we hold dear. The work was commissioned by a panel of community representatives, arts and culture professionals and civic leaders back in 2022 and, now, it’s finally come to fruition.
“I was super ecstatic to be selected to be a part of the process of adding art to such a vibrant place where millions of travelers pass through during their journey in life,” says Evans.
The piece is located on Concourse B East, near gate B60. It measures 26 feet long by 12 feet wide and 8 feet high, and it’s suspended from the ceiling.
Colorful pieces of luggage—flowing from red to orange to yellow to green to blue—create an undulating shape in the air. From far away, it looks like an infinity sign. But, upon closer inspection, it’s more like a Möbius strip. The shape is meant to symbolize the continuous loop of passengers taking off and landing, while the color palette represents the incredible sunrises and sunsets we see here in Colorado.
Growing up, Evans’ family moved around a lot, because his dad was in the military. So the project has personal significance to him, too. Luggage has always been a big part of his life. Now based in Denver, he’s known for creating his large-scale, colorful murals of sports stars and other inspiring figures.
But where did Evans get all these bags? While developing the piece, he put out a call to the public for personal luggage with some sort of story behind it—whatever that may be. In the end, he selected 183 bags to incorporate into his final design—and the bags come from some pretty prominent people.
One is a touring chest from Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson Dance company, while another was donated by artist Ed Dwight, who created the Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture in City Park. Some were old travel bags used by the Denver Nuggets and the Denver Broncos, while one came from John Mosley, a Tuskegee Airman and pioneering football player at Colorado State University.
One bag came from a flight attendant who’s been serving passengers in the sky for more than three decades, while several came from airport employees.
Once Evans had all the bags he needed, he deconstructed them and filled them with foam. Then he primed and painted them in bold colors, and fixed them in place using a metal armature. Along the way, he even hid a few secret items inside the bags, too.
Surrounding the main sculpture, there are suspended items like a guitar, a cowboy hat, a skateboard and a telescope. These elements are meant to represent key aspects of Colorado’s culture and history.
The $450,000 installation was funded by Denver’s 1% for Public Art Ordinance, which sets aside 1 percent of the budget for all city capital improvement projects for public art.
And be sure to keep an eye out for even more new artwork at Denver International Airport in the future. Last month, Denver City Council approved a new $3.6 million piece that will be installed in the Great Hall three years from now.
Called “The Stars and the Cottonwood Tree,” the installation will depict a cottonwood tree made out of resin and stainless steel. The tree will stand 60 feet tall near the south end of the Jeppesen Terminal and will have a 70-foot-wide canopy.
More than 30,000 crystals will be draped over the canopy, creating prisms in the sunlight streaming through the Great Hall windows. The base will be made of red rock and will provide seating for passengers moving through the airport.
Artist Donald Lipski will develop and install the piece, which draws inspiration from Cheyenne and Arapaho legends about cottonwood trees.
