President Obama’s South by South Lawn Features Nathan Sawaya ‘The Park People’ Art Piece

President Barack Obama held the South By South Lawn mini-festival on Monday on the White House grounds, where Nathan Sawaya provided an art piece from his The Park People series.

The Park People At SXSL

On the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., Sawaya’s The Park People series stood out as a focal point of the art side of the festival, which was also a celebration of tech ideas and action on the climate change front.

“Good morning. #sxsl,” Sawaya captioned a picture of himself accompanying one of his primary-color lego people on a bench.Sawaya also shared a snap of the president next to one of the Park People. “Art is wherever you find it,” Sawaya wrote. “And POTUS found some on the @whitehouse South Lawn. #sxsl #ParkPeople.”

“The president is saying to the innovators of today: ‘You are great at making things happen, so why not use that power to create positive social change,’” said Hugh Forrest of SXSW, who helped plan SXSL with the White House. “With Austin and with South by Southwest, we’re constantly finding new audiences, bringing new people to the city who have new things to contribute. What we are doing here fits in line with that.”

Obama had said in an email to supporters ahead of the event, “Much like the festival I dropped by in Austin earlier this year, SXSL is, at its heart, a call to action.”