Latest news with #slavery
ABC News
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
What Washington Black, a series set in the early 19th century, can teach us about life today
Set in the early 19th century, Washington Black is the odyssey of 11-year-old George Washington "Wash" Black, who was born on a Barbados sugar plantation. Based on the Booker-shortlisted novel of the same name, the new television series traces the journey of Wash (Eddie Karanja) as his talent for drawing and exceptional scientific mind is ignited under the tutelage of eccentric scientist and abolitionist Titch (Tom Ellis). Forced to flee his old life after a shocking death, Wash moves to Nova Scotia, where he falls in love with Tanna (Iola Evans), a British woman secretly born to a Melanesian mother. But when a bounty hunter discovers his true identity, Wash's freedom and life are once again in jeopardy. Sterling K Brown (This is Us, Paradise, American Fiction) plays Medwin Harris, the larger-than-life de facto mayor of the Black township in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Wash finds himself. "I believe that Wash is an individual who does not allow his circumstances to dictate his possibilities through the power of his dreams, his imagination, his creativity," Brown told ABC News. "He is able to transcend his current circumstances in such a way that he is not bogged down by them. "He only just sees them as a temporary obstacle to what is ultimately inside of his heart." Brown said there was a lot the 19th-century odyssey could teach its audience about life today. "I don't want to pay lip service and sort of negate the struggles that people are going through today. I don't mean to make light of them," he said. "But I do want to emphasise just how empowered your own internal vision can be in terms of upliftment. "Don't allow the circumstance to make the dream small. Keep the dream big. "Keeping the dream big is an act of resistance. "You are actually saying to the world, 'however you see me, whatever you think that I am worthy of, I know myself to be worthy of more'. "And I think that is not just to Black people, to any sort of marginalised group of people, it is a powerful story that anybody who feels less than or feels made to be less than, knows there's an internal knowing that is louder and more resonant than what anybody else has to say about you." Ernest Kingsley Jr (The Sandman, War of the Worlds, The Sparticle Mystery) plays a 19-year-old Wash who has built a new life for himself in Nova Scotia, where he assumes the name Jack Crawford. Kingsley said the character maintained a youthful sense of wonder despite hardships because of the potency of his dreams, and as an actor, he worked to convey this. "It was making sure I understood in full capacity what those dreams were, the science and the curiosity of the world, and the wonder, and bringing that with me to older Wash," Kingsley told ABC News. "I think when facing the adversity … what gets you through it is that wonder in the world and the way you kind of see those dreams. "I think that gives you the feel[ing] to be, like, 'OK, this is hard, this is difficult, but I can overcome this because I have this dream where I see more for myself, and I carry myself with love and perseverance.'" At one point, it seems Wash may miss out on credit for a scientific innovation. Kingsley said being credited for your work brought essential visibility. "You see all the pain that Wash goes through to get to where he's got to, and so, to receive credit for that, you're also crediting the overcoming and the persevering in spite of all those difficulties and the hardship," he said. Brown, whose character is a mentor to Wash, said that while the series was a work of fiction, Black people have long been inventors and creators. "If history is sort of told by the people who are on top, and they get a chance to shape it into their own image, then they get to shape it in a way that makes it seem as if we made no contribution at all," Brown said. "We have a history of creativity. We have a history of innovation that oftentimes they don't want to teach us about. "They want to change the curriculum, change textbooks in such a way that make it seem like we made no contribution at all, whatsoever. Washington Black is available on Disney+.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Washington Black review – the romantic bits could have been stolen from a bad pop song
Esi Edugyan's 2018 novel Washington Black is an unorthodox, steampunk-infused account of the era when transatlantic slavery cast a dark shadow over much of the world. Its hero is George Washington Black – or Wash for short – a Black boy of 11, growing up on a Barbados plantation. He becomes the protege of a well-meaning white scientist, Titch (who happens to be the brother of Wash's merciless master, Erasmus). Together they work on crafting the 'Cloud Cutter', an experimental airship that offers them an escape from the plantation when Wash is accused of murder – but which crashes over the Atlantic during a storm. Spoiler alert: the pair make it out of that episode alive, with Wash fleeing to Virginia, and later Canada. A Guardian review described scenes from the novel as '[unfolding] with a Tarantino-esque savagery', and the book doesn't shy away from graphic depictions of violence and suicide, nor frequent use of the N-word. It is also described as having a 'fairytale atmosphere' – something the Disney-owned Hulu homed in on above all else. As a TV series, Washington Black feels less like a grownup drama and more like the sort of quasi-historical show that teachers play to their pupils as an end-of-term treat. Let's start with the positives, though. The stunning scenery of Nova Scotia (which also doubles as Virginia) is a constant – a rugged, romantic backdrop to the action. Everyone looks the part, too: Sterling K Brown (also an executive producer) is rarely out of regal purple corduroy as Halifax town leader Medwin Harris, while the English contingent – among them Tom Ellis's Titch and Rupert Graves's Mr Goff – are Regencyfied to the max. (If you are a fan of towering 19th-century headgear, this is definitely the show for you.) The cast are excellent, including but not limited to Brown – who can convey so much emotion with the mere quiver of an eyebrow – and Eddie Karanja and Ernest Kingsley Jr, who do just the right amount of emoting as the young and slightly-less-young Wash. It is very easy to watch, and the four episodes delivered to press (there are eight in total) slip down easily and endearingly. But, really, that lack of friction is a problem. From the mawkish string soundtrack to some of the most heavy-handed dialogue ever committed to screen and the most cliched of death scenes (one character dies while stuttering out their final words and clutching at a stab wound), Washington Black lacks bite. To be clear, I don't believe that all productions about slavery have to be laced with unending trauma and pain, and the emphasis on science is a nice departure from the harsh realities of the era. But in sanding down the corners of its source material, it ends up with an almost uncanny feel. It's not Ellis's fault, but the idea that anybody – never mind the most enlightened abolitionists of the age – would have answered the question 'Is this boy your slave?' with 'He's my friend!' is risible. In fact, watching Ellis as an antebellum-era answer to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Caractacus Potts is a jarring experience. Julian Rhind-Tutt is perfectly terrifying as Erasmus, but – with the book's darker moments removed – he is a sociopath without a cause. One character simply describes themself as 'an unhinged disgrace', as shorthand for the audience learning why they are unhinged or disgraceful. It didn't have to be 'Tarantino-esque' – but did it have to be quite so PG? Washington Black is also something of a romance, another area where it wobbles along. Kingsley Jr and Iola Evans – who plays a mixed-race, white-passing noblewoman named Tanna – give it their best shot. But lines such as 'We'll create a world of our own' and 'She breathes life into me' feel as if they have been lifted from a bad pop song. By the time we get to 'My everything is better with you', I have begun to feel queasy. Tanna is distraught that her white father has never allowed her to explore the other side of herself, and her maternal connection to Solomon Islands. Unfortunately, we must learn all this through trite dialogue that sounds less like the stuff of a Disney+ drama, and more like the things that Disney princesses – locked in their gilded cages – sing about in their films. Washington Black comes with plenty of potential and, as an exercise in world-building, it is rich and appealing. But, unlike the Cloud Cutter, this is a creation that never takes flight. The hats really are lovely, but they are just not enough. Washington Black is on Disney+ now.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Manchester's Royal Exchange rooted in slavery and colonialism, research reveals
For more than 50 years it has been at the heart of cultural life in one of the UK's biggest cities. But research has revealed Manchester's Royal Exchange building was at the centre of slavery and colonialism, making it 'one of the most important locations in the history of global capitalism'. Since 1973, the building in St Ann's Square has been home to the Royal Exchange theatre, now staging Liberation (until 26 July), the critically acclaimed play marking 80 years since the 1945 Pan-African Congress – a conference that brought together luminaries of Black liberation, including Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and WEB Du Bois, in Manchester to progress national independence movements from European rule. But while the theatre celebrates African liberation, the building, in its former life, was at the heart of European colonial dominance. As a 19th-century trading hall it was the place where 'Manchester's businessmen, industrialists, financiers, and politicians made decisions and deals that transformed landscapes and environments across continents', research into the building's history found. The research, a series of reports involving the University of Manchester (UoM) emerging scholars programme, reveals how the Royal Exchange's 19th-century subscribers were enmeshed in the enslavement of African peoples, the exploitation of India, the opium trade in China, as well as the development of the economic doctrine of free trade, the birth of the modern city, and the development of liberal politics and economics. Crucially, the reports shine a light on how African people resisted enslavement, fighting a plantation economy that British elites were at the heart of. The research looks into the story of Jack Gladstone, an enslaved man on the Success sugar plantation in modern-day Guyana, and his father, Quamina, who led up to 13,000 people demanding freedom in 1823's Demerara Uprising before it was violently suppressed. Success was owned by John Gladstone, the father of the 19th-century prime minister William Gladstone, whose wealth derived from enslavement, colonialism and compensation payments after 1833's Slavery Abolition Act. Members of the Gladstone family played a key role in funding the Royal Exchange building, which was Manchester's third exchange building, completed in 1874. The story of Sandy, an African prince who staged a rebellion against enslavement in Tobago in 1770, is also highlighted. Sandy's rebellion was suppressed with the help of Lord Ducie, a Manchester landowner and Royal Navy officer who sold the land at Market Street on which Manchester's second exchange, a forerunner to the current Royal Exchange site, opened in 1809. Ducie, also known as Francis Reynolds-Moreton, was the grandson of Thomas Reynolds, a director of the South Sea Company that formed in 1711 and secured exclusive rights from the British government to traffic and sell 4,800 enslaved people annually to Spanish colonies throughout the Americas. Facilitated by Ducie's land sale, the 1809 exchange replaced the first Manchester exchange – which had been built in 1729 by Sir Oswald Mosley, an ancestor of the 20th-century fascist leader Oswald Mosley – creating an 'exclusive space' for dealmaking, the researcher Destinie Reynolds found. Mosley Street and Great Ducie Street in Manchester memorialise these family names. The second exchange professionalised commodities trading at a time when Manchester's cotton industry was booming – fuelled by crops planted, grown, picked and packed by African people enslaved and transported to the Americas, often by merchants from nearby Liverpool. Consequently, key, founding players in the second exchange – granted the 'Royal' title when Queen Victoria visited in 1851 – were traders in enslaved people, and plantation owners who 'used their power and influence to lobby in favour of the slave trade and reduce tariffs on (its) goods … helping to continue its growth', advancing the 'liberal' case for free trade simultaneously, the researcher Beth Carson found. Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world after newsletter promotion These men included George Philips, one of the first backers of the Manchester Guardian, the first chair of the second exchange and a partner in Boddington, Sharp and Philips, which owned the Success plantation in Hanover, Jamaica, which relied on enslaved people's labour. The research also shows how, after the Slavery Abolition Act, business interests of 19th-century Scottish families integral to the development of the Royal Exchange – the Gladstones and the Arbuthnots – shifted to exploiting Indian indentured workers. A company in which members of both families were partners was involved in 'illegally exporting opium to China to force access to Chinese markets', as well as exporting Lancashire-manufactured textiles into India, the researcher Aashe Singh found. In 2021, as it began interrogating its past in more detail, the Royal Exchange launched the Disrvpt programme of events. This included commissioning a poem, Holding Space, from the Manchester writer Keisha Thompson (who is now the programme manager for the Guardian's Legacies of Enslavement team), which explored the building's story, in its Great Hall. The Royal Exchange theatre said of the most recent research into the building's past: 'While reclaiming this space was a radical act, we must acknowledge how this grand empty building came to be here. The building's very existence is a testament … to the colossal profits of a global cotton economy … one of the most important locations in the history of global capitalism.' Dr Kerry Pimblott, of UoM, added: 'We believe centring such accounts … raises important questions about the legacies of this history in the present and how reparative action can help shape more just futures.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can you mount an art exhibition about race in the age of Trump?
It is one of the most evocative works from the American Civil War: A sculpture of a Black man who had escaped from slavery helping an injured White Union soldier lost in hostile territory. When it was unveiled in 1864, John Rogers' 'The Wounded Scout, a Friend in the Swamp,' was celebrated for its anti-slavery message and patriotic tone. But in 2025, a Smithsonian exhibition, 'The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,' asked visitors to reconsider the message behind the piece. On display, the sculpture is paired with a description that prompts viewers to consider how the work, and others by Rogers 'reinforced the long-standing racist social order,' despite its pro-Union and emancipation sentiment. The exhibition's efforts to challenge enduring ideas about race and American sculpture became a subject of President Donald Trump's ire earlier this year. In an executive order, he condemned the exhibition for stating that 'sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism,' that 'race is a human invention' and that the United States has used race 'to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.' 'Museums in our Nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to divisive narratives,' the executive order said. Trump has championed a cultural agenda built around celebrating, as the executive order put it, 'shared American values' and 'unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing,' and he has put Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, in charge of stopping government spending on exhibits that don't align with that agenda. That has forced the Smithsonian into an awkward position. In June, the Smithsonian began a review of content in its museums. The institution has repeatedly said it is committed to being 'free from political or partisan influence' – but the review has raised serious questions over whether the world's largest museum complex will curb candid discussions about the country's past, beginning with exhibits like 'The Shape of Power.' Sasa Aakil, a young artist who helped with 'The Shape of Power,' said that it would be 'catastrophic' if the Smithsonian were to change many of its exhibits. 'America has never been good at truth. That's why so many people are doing the work that they're doing. That's why this exhibition exists.' Humbler displays, notable reactions For the amount of attention it garnered from the president, the exhibition at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a surprisingly humble, intimate feel. Tucked away on the third floor of a sprawling neo-classical building shared with the National Portrait Gallery in downtown Washington, the exhibit holds 82 sculptures dating from 1792 to 2023. The pieces are arranged according to a series of topics with prompts asking visitors to consider how they encounter the pieces. A large passage of text on the wall at the exhibition entrance says: 'Stories anchor this exhibition,' and that through it, visitors can discover how artists used sculpture to 'tell fuller stories about how race and racism shape the ways we understand ourselves.' The stated goal of for the exhibit is 'to encourage visitors to feel invited into a transparent and honest dialogue about the histories of race, racism, and the role of sculpture, art history and museums in shaping these stories,' its curators have written. Ferdinand Pettrich's 'The Dying Tecumseh,' for example, portrays a Shawnee warrior's death during the War of 1812. Completed in 1856, he is shown in a relaxed pose, reclining as if asleep. In reality, he died in battle and his body was mutilated by American soldiers. Pettrich, according to the exhibit, made the sculpture as political propaganda for Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson, who had claimed he killed Tecumseh and made the alleged act part of his campaign slogan. It also reinforced racist ideas about Native Americans during a time when the United States was rapidly expanding westward, the exhibit said. Yards away from Hiram Powers' 'Greek Slave,' a famous 19th century sculpture, is Julia Kwon's 'Fetishization,' a 2016 work featuring a hollow, female torso wrapped with a vibrant patchwork of silk bojagi, Korean object-wrapping cloth. The intention, Kwon told CNN, is to comment 'on the gravity and absurdity of the objectification of Asian female bodies.' Asked about its objections to the exhibit, Lindsey Halligan, a White House official who Trump has tasked with helping to root out 'improper ideology' at the Smithsonian, told CNN in a statement: 'The Shape of Power exhibit claims that 'sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism,' a statement that ultimately serves to create division rather than unity.' 'While it's important to confront history with honesty, framing an entire medium of art through such a narrow and accusatory lens overshadows its broader cultural, aesthetic, and educational value,' Halligan said in a statement. 'Instead of fostering dialogue or deeper understanding, the Shape of Power exhibit's approach alienates audiences and reduces complex artistic legacies to a single, controversial narrative. After all, it's hard to imagine Michelangelo thinking about racism as he chiseled David's abs – he was in the relentless pursuit of artistic perfection, not pushing a political agenda.' (Michelangelo's work is not part of the exhibit.) Some see value in the president's push to reshape the museums. Mike Gonzalez, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, expressed optimism about the Smithsonian's review, arguing that the institution should not mount exhibitions that examine the US through 'a prism of the oppressed and the oppressor.' 'I think, you know, you have to tell the whole story, not a small part of the story that is designed to make people feel grievances against their own country,' he said. But critics say the administration's review has the potential to undermine the nation's ability to understand its complicated history through art. Examining art from the past has the potential to hit at the core of how Americans understand their country, Northwestern University art history professor Rebecca Zorach told CNN, and that's the value of exhibitions like 'The Shape of Power.' 'Art provides ways to process these issues. I think some people are afraid of what it means to kind of have that opportunity,' Zorach said. The administration's claims of a 'divisive, race-centered ideology' are a 'real caricature' of what museums and other cultural institutions are trying to do, she said. It was also 'astonishing' that the administration would dispute a scientifically accepted view that race is a construct, she added. Probing questions Sasa Aakil, a 22-year-old artist who was a student collaborator on 'The Shape of Power', told CNN the exhibition was not designed to make people feel resentment towards their country, but to consider the broader context of the art. She recalled the first time she saw 'The Dying Tecumseh.' It unnerved her, she said, especially as she learned more about the distorted version of the history the artwork relayed. For Aakil, the statue is a reminder that museums have always made some people uncomfortable. 'Many of these sculptures were always problematic, were always painful and were always very violent. And this exhibition is forcing people to see that, as opposed to allowing people to live in a fantasy,' she said. Another piece, 'DNA Study Revisited' by Philadelphia artist Roberto Lugo, is intended to push back against the ways sculpture has been used to bolster ideas about racial classifications. In a self-portrait, Lugo uses different patterns that correspond to parts of his ancestry, drawing from Spanish, African, Portuguese and indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Lugo told CNN that he believes art is 'a way for us to understand the world through someone else's experiences.' 'Through exhibitions like this, I hope we can begin to normalize storytelling from diverse communities,' he added. 'Every story matters, and art gives us a voice in a world where we have too often been silenced.' While it's unclear what changes, if any, the Smithsonian will make to 'The Shape of Power,' the institution has changed exhibits that have drawn controversy in the past. In 1978, religious groups sued over an evolution exhibition that they alleged violated the First Amendment, but a court sided with the Smithsonian, and the National Museum of Natural History kept the exhibit up. But in 1995, the Smithsonian reduced the size and scope of an exhibit on Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, after veterans' groups and lawmakers complained about what it said about World War II. And in 2011, the National Portrait Gallery, which shares the same building as the American Art Museum, debuted 'Hide/Seek,' the first major museum exhibition on gender and sexual identity at the Smithsonian. The show featured the video 'A Fire in My Belly' by the late artist David Wojnarowicz, which includes a scene where ants crawl over a crucifix, prompting uproar from the Catholic League and conservative members of the House of Representatives. It was quickly removed, but not without criticism from those that argued that the Smithsonian was capitulating to homophobic censorship. The planned run for the 'The Shape of Power' exhibition began November 8, 2024, and is to continue through September 14. The Smithsonian did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
4 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Can you mount an art exhibition about race in the age of Trump?
It is one of the most evocative works from the American Civil War: A sculpture of a Black man who had escaped from slavery helping an injured White Union soldier lost in hostile territory. When it was unveiled in 1864, John Rogers' 'The Wounded Scout, a Friend in the Swamp,' was celebrated for its anti-slavery message and patriotic tone. But in 2025, a Smithsonian exhibition, 'The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,' asked visitors to reconsider the message behind the piece. On display, the sculpture is paired with a description that prompts viewers to consider how the work, and others by Rogers 'reinforced the long-standing racist social order,' despite its pro-Union and emancipation sentiment. The exhibition's efforts to challenge enduring ideas about race and American sculpture became a subject of President Donald Trump's ire earlier this year. In an executive order, he condemned the exhibition for stating that 'sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism,' that 'race is a human invention' and that the United States has used race 'to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.' 'Museums in our Nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to divisive narratives,' the executive order said. Trump has championed a cultural agenda built around celebrating, as the executive order put it, 'shared American values' and 'unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing,' and he has put Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, in charge of stopping government spending on exhibits that don't align with that agenda. That has forced the Smithsonian into an awkward position. In June, the Smithsonian began a review of content in its museums. The institution has repeatedly said it is committed to being 'free from political or partisan influence' – but the review has raised serious questions over whether the world's largest museum complex will curb candid discussions about the country's past, beginning with exhibits like 'The Shape of Power.' Sasa Aakil, a young artist who helped with 'The Shape of Power,' said that it would be 'catastrophic' if the Smithsonian were to change many of its exhibits. 'America has never been good at truth. That's why so many people are doing the work that they're doing. That's why this exhibition exists.' For the amount of attention it garnered from the president, the exhibition at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a surprisingly humble, intimate feel. Tucked away on the third floor of a sprawling neo-classical building shared with the National Portrait Gallery in downtown Washington, the exhibit holds 82 sculptures dating from 1792 to 2023. The pieces are arranged according to a series of topics with prompts asking visitors to consider how they encounter the pieces. A large passage of text on the wall at the exhibition entrance says: 'Stories anchor this exhibition,' and that through it, visitors can discover how artists used sculpture to 'tell fuller stories about how race and racism shape the ways we understand ourselves.' The stated goal of for the exhibit is 'to encourage visitors to feel invited into a transparent and honest dialogue about the histories of race, racism, and the role of sculpture, art history and museums in shaping these stories,' its curators have written. Ferdinand Pettrich's 'The Dying Tecumseh,' for example, portrays a Shawnee warrior's death during the War of 1812. Completed in 1856, he is shown in a relaxed pose, reclining as if asleep. In reality, he died in battle and his body was mutilated by American soldiers. Pettrich, according to the exhibit, made the sculpture as political propaganda for Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson, who had claimed he killed Tecumseh and made the alleged act part of his campaign slogan. It also reinforced racist ideas about Native Americans during a time when the United States was rapidly expanding westward, the exhibit said. Yards away from Hiram Powers' 'Greek Slave,' a famous 19th century sculpture, is Julia Kwon's 'Fetishization,' a 2016 work featuring a hollow, female torso wrapped with a vibrant patchwork of silk bojagi, Korean object-wrapping cloth. The intention, Kwon told CNN, is to comment 'on the gravity and absurdity of the objectification of Asian female bodies.' Asked about its objections to the exhibit, Lindsey Halligan, a White House official who Trump has tasked with helping to root out 'improper ideology' at the Smithsonian, told CNN in a statement: 'The Shape of Power exhibit claims that 'sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism,' a statement that ultimately serves to create division rather than unity.' 'While it's important to confront history with honesty, framing an entire medium of art through such a narrow and accusatory lens overshadows its broader cultural, aesthetic, and educational value,' Halligan said in a statement. 'Instead of fostering dialogue or deeper understanding, the Shape of Power exhibit's approach alienates audiences and reduces complex artistic legacies to a single, controversial narrative. After all, it's hard to imagine Michelangelo thinking about racism as he chiseled David's abs – he was in the relentless pursuit of artistic perfection, not pushing a political agenda.' (Michelangelo's work is not part of the exhibit.) Some see value in the president's push to reshape the museums. Mike Gonzalez, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, expressed optimism about the Smithsonian's review, arguing that the institution should not mount exhibitions that examine the US through 'a prism of the oppressed and the oppressor.' 'I think, you know, you have to tell the whole story, not a small part of the story that is designed to make people feel grievances against their own country,' he said. But critics say the administration's review has the potential to undermine the nation's ability to understand its complicated history through art. Examining art from the past has the potential to hit at the core of how Americans understand their country, Northwestern University art history professor Rebecca Zorach told CNN, and that's the value of exhibitions like 'The Shape of Power.' 'Art provides ways to process these issues. I think some people are afraid of what it means to kind of have that opportunity,' Zorach said. The administration's claims of a 'divisive, race-centered ideology' are a 'real caricature' of what museums and other cultural institutions are trying to do, she said. It was also 'astonishing' that the administration would dispute a scientifically accepted view that race is a construct, she added. Sasa Aakil, a 22-year-old artist who was a student collaborator on 'The Shape of Power', told CNN the exhibition was not designed to make people feel resentment towards their country, but to consider the broader context of the art. She recalled the first time she saw 'The Dying Tecumseh.' It unnerved her, she said, especially as she learned more about the distorted version of the history the artwork relayed. For Aakil, the statue is a reminder that museums have always made some people uncomfortable. 'Many of these sculptures were always problematic, were always painful and were always very violent. And this exhibition is forcing people to see that, as opposed to allowing people to live in a fantasy,' she said. Another piece, 'DNA Study Revisited' by Philadelphia artist Roberto Lugo, is intended to push back against the ways sculpture has been used to bolster ideas about racial classifications. In a self-portrait, Lugo uses different patterns that correspond to parts of his ancestry, drawing from Spanish, African, Portuguese and indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Lugo told CNN that he believes art is 'a way for us to understand the world through someone else's experiences.' 'Through exhibitions like this, I hope we can begin to normalize storytelling from diverse communities,' he added. 'Every story matters, and art gives us a voice in a world where we have too often been silenced.' While it's unclear what changes, if any, the Smithsonian will make to 'The Shape of Power,' the institution has changed exhibits that have drawn controversy in the past. In 1978, religious groups sued over an evolution exhibition that they alleged violated the First Amendment, but a court sided with the Smithsonian, and the National Museum of Natural History kept the exhibit up. But in 1995, the Smithsonian reduced the size and scope of an exhibit on Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, after veterans' groups and lawmakers complained about what it said about World War II. And in 2011, the National Portrait Gallery, which shares the same building as the American Art Museum, debuted 'Hide/Seek,' the first major museum exhibition on gender and sexual identity at the Smithsonian. The show featured the video 'A Fire in My Belly' by the late artist David Wojnarowicz, which includes a scene where ants crawl over a crucifix, prompting uproar from the Catholic League and conservative members of the House of Representatives. It was quickly removed, but not without criticism from those that argued that the Smithsonian was capitulating to homophobic censorship. The planned run for the 'The Shape of Power' exhibition began November 8, 2024, and is to continue through September 14. The Smithsonian did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
