Artists Seek Removal of Sculpture from National Gallery Show in Protest
November 3, 2023 8:45 PM Subscribe
Artists Seek Removal of Sculpture from National Gallery Show in Protest of US Funding to Israel Artists Nicholas Galanin and Merritt Johnson said on Friday night that they had asked the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to remove a sculpture from its galleries as a protest against the US’s plans to provide funding to Israel.
The sculpture, titled Creation with her Children (2017), is one of the biggest artworks in “The Land Carries Our Ancestors,” a survey of contemporary Native American art curated by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. It marks the first time in 30 years that the National Gallery of Art has devoted a show to Indigenous art.
Nicolas Galanin's art at Artsy
Art Basel Miami
Artist website
Nicolas Galanin's art at Artsy
Art Basel Miami
Artist website
It's an incredible exhibit. Good on the artist for this principled position.
posted by wicked_sassy at 4:02 AM on November 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by wicked_sassy at 4:02 AM on November 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
"...as a protest against the US’s plans to provide funding to Israel."
Hasn't the U.S. been funding Israel since Israel has existed?
I get the current storm of critique, but I'm not buying this. Are the other artists of this show supposed to do the same?
Fine, pull the piece. But a "principled position"? Please. So was Kid Rock's shooting up a six pack of bud-light.
posted by rhonzo at 5:35 AM on November 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
Hasn't the U.S. been funding Israel since Israel has existed?
I get the current storm of critique, but I'm not buying this. Are the other artists of this show supposed to do the same?
Fine, pull the piece. But a "principled position"? Please. So was Kid Rock's shooting up a six pack of bud-light.
posted by rhonzo at 5:35 AM on November 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
Hasn't the U.S. been funding Israel since Israel has existed?
Not at all.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:56 AM on November 4, 2023
Not at all.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:56 AM on November 4, 2023
Worth pointing out that this protest comes with a specific request:
“We’re calling on the Federal Government to demand an immediate ceasefire, cut military aid to Israel, and lift the siege on Gaza.”
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:58 AM on November 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
“We’re calling on the Federal Government to demand an immediate ceasefire, cut military aid to Israel, and lift the siege on Gaza.”
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:58 AM on November 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
I get the current storm of critique, but I'm not buying this.
What other explanation do you propose? What reason do you have to think that the alternative explanation is more likely than the artist’s?
posted by oddman at 6:49 AM on November 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
What other explanation do you propose? What reason do you have to think that the alternative explanation is more likely than the artist’s?
posted by oddman at 6:49 AM on November 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
On the one hand I totally get/support artists using whatever leverage they have to make whatever political statement they choose.
On the other hand oh nooo don’t take your literal pile of trash away!
*yanking motion*
posted by chronkite at 6:51 AM on November 4, 2023
On the other hand oh nooo don’t take your literal pile of trash away!
*yanking motion*
posted by chronkite at 6:51 AM on November 4, 2023
Here's a longer artist statement about the work. Now at least I know the blue tarp is intentional and not part of a quickly-rigged cover as part of an early protest.
posted by achrise at 7:15 AM on November 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by achrise at 7:15 AM on November 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Earlier Friday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that would direct $14.3 billion in aid to Israel and cut funding to the Internal Revenue Service.
The cuts to the IRS aren't meant to put a chokehold on the agency's ability to conduct audits and allow the wealthy ruling class to get away with tax evasion.
The cuts are meant to allow the wealthy ruling class to get away with tax evasion more easily.
posted by AlSweigart at 7:52 AM on November 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
The cuts to the IRS aren't meant to put a chokehold on the agency's ability to conduct audits and allow the wealthy ruling class to get away with tax evasion.
The cuts are meant to allow the wealthy ruling class to get away with tax evasion more easily.
posted by AlSweigart at 7:52 AM on November 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2023-10-10/how-much-aid-does-the-u-s-give-to-israel
posted by Brian B. at 7:58 AM on November 4, 2023
posted by Brian B. at 7:58 AM on November 4, 2023
Hasn't the U.S. been funding Israel since Israel has existed?
Yes, but the social media environment has never been richer for leveraging that for self-promotion.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:11 AM on November 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yes, but the social media environment has never been richer for leveraging that for self-promotion.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:11 AM on November 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
There’s also the possibility that these artists have truly held feelings about the ethics of thousands of children being bombed with their tax dollars.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:32 AM on November 4, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:32 AM on November 4, 2023 [10 favorites]
Galanin has pulled works in protest before— he gets more attention that way.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:47 AM on November 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 8:47 AM on November 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
"A protest designed to draw attention is per se illegitimate and unworthy of consideration!"
Phew. Some of you all need to consider what Republican talking points you have absorbed without thinking them through.
posted by praemunire at 10:39 AM on November 4, 2023 [12 favorites]
Phew. Some of you all need to consider what Republican talking points you have absorbed without thinking them through.
posted by praemunire at 10:39 AM on November 4, 2023 [12 favorites]
rhonzo: Hasn't the U.S. been funding Israel since Israel has existed?
MisantropicPainforest: Not at all.
Bullshit. The US has funded Israel every year since 1949 with the exception of 1950.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:48 AM on November 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
MisantropicPainforest: Not at all.
Bullshit. The US has funded Israel every year since 1949 with the exception of 1950.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:48 AM on November 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
What happened in 1948? Also military aid was almost nonexistent until the 1960s and the Eisenhower administration didn’t really pivot toward Israel as a strategic asset until 1958. The US also gave nearly every non-communist nation economic aid. The specific protest here is about military aid.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:54 AM on November 4, 2023
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:54 AM on November 4, 2023
Since people are asking, read about the Balfour Declaration
And then 1948, U.S. department of state historical page.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 11:07 AM on November 4, 2023
And then 1948, U.S. department of state historical page.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 11:07 AM on November 4, 2023
Then in 1948, "the catastrophe" the Nakba PBS NewsHour link
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 11:11 AM on November 4, 2023
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 11:11 AM on November 4, 2023
MisantropicPainforest, your initial "Not at all" hand-wave with zero context seems designed to mislead, at best.
The question you responded to wasn't about military aid, it was about aid. That said, the discussed protest is about military aid, so let's assume you were answering from that perspective. Even so, given that Israel has only existed since 1948 and the period of time in which the US wasn't giving military aid, specifically, to it is only about 15% of that time, "not at all" is "not at all" true.
And the context of aid to other countries isn't terribly relevant to the general question of whether aid has been an ongoing thing to Israel, considering it has been the top recipient, or more recently among the top three, since at least the early '70s.
posted by tubedogg at 1:03 PM on November 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
The question you responded to wasn't about military aid, it was about aid. That said, the discussed protest is about military aid, so let's assume you were answering from that perspective. Even so, given that Israel has only existed since 1948 and the period of time in which the US wasn't giving military aid, specifically, to it is only about 15% of that time, "not at all" is "not at all" true.
And the context of aid to other countries isn't terribly relevant to the general question of whether aid has been an ongoing thing to Israel, considering it has been the top recipient, or more recently among the top three, since at least the early '70s.
posted by tubedogg at 1:03 PM on November 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Biden promised a veto, since this bill "combined aid for Israel with a cut to the Internal Revenue Service and left out aid for Ukraine" [US House passes Republicans' Israel-only aid bill, faces dead end in Senate, Reuters, Nov. 2]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:11 PM on November 4, 2023
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:11 PM on November 4, 2023
to stand on the side of all that is good and right and its rare
1400 Jews were butchered in a single day - raped, set on fire, and had their bodies mutilated.
250 civilian hostages are still being held, including infants, and the Red Cross is not being allowed access. One is never coming home; she was gang raped, paraded on video, and beheaded.
“All that is right and good” is a bit much.
posted by Mchelly at 4:56 AM on November 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
1400 Jews were butchered in a single day - raped, set on fire, and had their bodies mutilated.
250 civilian hostages are still being held, including infants, and the Red Cross is not being allowed access. One is never coming home; she was gang raped, paraded on video, and beheaded.
“All that is right and good” is a bit much.
posted by Mchelly at 4:56 AM on November 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
If you’re allegedly that these artists are standing on the side of Hamas, you’re going to have to show some receipts. They’re specifically demanding the US halt the shipment of weapons to Israel because those weapons are being used to bomb civilians. There’s not a ton of moral ambiguity here.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:59 AM on November 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:59 AM on November 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
Since this artwork has been called a "literal pile of trash" in this thread:
Here are some close ups of the work (it's beautiful
This is a description of the work, which combines sculpted and carved pieces with found objects.
Creation is carving her own face out of necessity, because it is within her power, and because it is her nature. She has cut open and is shedding the garments of 17th century Europe, revealing a more contemporary covering.
The blue tarp is a contemporary cover and protection from weather, they cover tipi frames to build tarpees, they cover broken windows and doors, they are inexpensive, and readily available.
Creation is always in the process of becoming. In this form she has endured hundreds of years of colonization, corporatization, commodification, and subjugation.
Her children do not emerge from under her skirt, but they play at being dangerous holding mouths full of sharp teeth, their ability to play at being dangerous is a vision of what safety looks like. In this form Creation is not only shedding the cover and restraint of the dress, she is carving her own face with knife used to cut away the dress.
Her head may have been cut off or burned or stolen, it may have been left to rot. But Creation is always in motion, an in this moment she has grown or secured herself a head that still wears the cover of land half wrapped in bark. She is carving her face so that she can be seen, to show a way to be for her children, so that she can see. She is carving her face because she needs to, because no one else can see her, because creation continues to be born through herself, and will carve her image new when it is destroyed, stolen, or forgotten by those who cannot see.
Nicholas Galanin & Merritt Johnson
I'm flagging that comment as abusive but I wanted to give context as well.
posted by Zumbador at 6:10 AM on November 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
Here are some close ups of the work (it's beautiful
This is a description of the work, which combines sculpted and carved pieces with found objects.
Creation is carving her own face out of necessity, because it is within her power, and because it is her nature. She has cut open and is shedding the garments of 17th century Europe, revealing a more contemporary covering.
The blue tarp is a contemporary cover and protection from weather, they cover tipi frames to build tarpees, they cover broken windows and doors, they are inexpensive, and readily available.
Creation is always in the process of becoming. In this form she has endured hundreds of years of colonization, corporatization, commodification, and subjugation.
Her children do not emerge from under her skirt, but they play at being dangerous holding mouths full of sharp teeth, their ability to play at being dangerous is a vision of what safety looks like. In this form Creation is not only shedding the cover and restraint of the dress, she is carving her own face with knife used to cut away the dress.
Her head may have been cut off or burned or stolen, it may have been left to rot. But Creation is always in motion, an in this moment she has grown or secured herself a head that still wears the cover of land half wrapped in bark. She is carving her face so that she can be seen, to show a way to be for her children, so that she can see. She is carving her face because she needs to, because no one else can see her, because creation continues to be born through herself, and will carve her image new when it is destroyed, stolen, or forgotten by those who cannot see.
Nicholas Galanin & Merritt Johnson
I'm flagging that comment as abusive but I wanted to give context as well.
posted by Zumbador at 6:10 AM on November 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
I don’t find the piece beautiful at all.
I find it too conceptual, to put it in a way so I don’t get called abusive (come on).
I liked his “ism no 1” on the MuseeMagazine (middle) link.
posted by rhonzo at 9:57 AM on November 5, 2023
I find it too conceptual, to put it in a way so I don’t get called abusive (come on).
I liked his “ism no 1” on the MuseeMagazine (middle) link.
posted by rhonzo at 9:57 AM on November 5, 2023
In this context, with an artwork by an indigenous person who is removing it as part of a political statement, calling it a literal pile of trash and adding "yanking motion" to suggest it's masturbatory is very different from saying that you, personally, don't find it beautiful, and is, indeed, abusive.
posted by Zumbador at 10:05 AM on November 5, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Zumbador at 10:05 AM on November 5, 2023 [9 favorites]
too conceptual
Huh. We probably wouldn't have to be this far into the weeds if you'd just done the piece the decency of paying attention to it and reading the statement that accompanied it.
Lazy reading of anything is a fucking plague these days. "Words" are pretty fucking "conceptual" too, right?!
1948 marked the end of a conflict in what we now know as Israel/Palestine/Occupied territories. Initially this area was know as Mandatory Palestine and was created by the UN and Britain essentially as a place for the post WW2 diaspora to land. That is was largely occupied by Palestinians at the time was a problem, because of the historical dispute over whether and how much territory the Jewish people have a right to claim.
Shitty on all sides really. It's tough when you/we (UN/Britain/the West) try to do the right thing, but you/we do it with something that wasn't really yours/ours in the first place.
Which is the pattern of behaviour these indigenous artists are rightly calling our attention to with their work, and with their request to distance themselves from association with regimes that sponsor/prolong endemic colonial conflict. Makes sense to me.
posted by kneecapped at 11:57 AM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Huh. We probably wouldn't have to be this far into the weeds if you'd just done the piece the decency of paying attention to it and reading the statement that accompanied it.
Lazy reading of anything is a fucking plague these days. "Words" are pretty fucking "conceptual" too, right?!
1948 marked the end of a conflict in what we now know as Israel/Palestine/Occupied territories. Initially this area was know as Mandatory Palestine and was created by the UN and Britain essentially as a place for the post WW2 diaspora to land. That is was largely occupied by Palestinians at the time was a problem, because of the historical dispute over whether and how much territory the Jewish people have a right to claim.
Shitty on all sides really. It's tough when you/we (UN/Britain/the West) try to do the right thing, but you/we do it with something that wasn't really yours/ours in the first place.
Which is the pattern of behaviour these indigenous artists are rightly calling our attention to with their work, and with their request to distance themselves from association with regimes that sponsor/prolong endemic colonial conflict. Makes sense to me.
posted by kneecapped at 11:57 AM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
IMO it’s laughable that Britain “tried to do the right thing”. A widespread campaign of brutal repression wasn’t for the good of humankind, it was purely self interest, as was their hasty withdrawal and abandonment to the UN. The UN is and was of course beholden to the security council, but it certainly wasn’t “the West” who drew the partition lines (well it literally it was, since the geographer was Scandinavian). Iran was involved , for example.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:46 PM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:46 PM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
There’s not a ton of moral ambiguity here.
Counterpoint: there's a ton of moral ambiguity here.
Yes, the Israeli counterattack is grossly out of proportion, even if you assume a certain amount of propaganda in the way it is being presented. Netanyahu is a monster who needs to be run out of office. I'll also throw in that the West Bank occupation is deplorable and should be immediately withdrawn.
At the same time:
- Palestinians have been offered their own state multiple times and refused
- Arabs have started every war against Israel
- Hamas has broken every ceasefire it has agreed to
- The leaders of Hamas are rich assholes who live outside of Palestine and place the destruction of Israel over helping the people of Gaza
- Hamas purposely puts innocent Palestinians in harm's way by putting command centers under hospitals and civilian areas
Demanding that Israel "stop the siege on Gaza" without saying a thing about hostages is a problem too. Israel's "we need to defend ourselves" is increasingly looking like bullshit, but no one has provided a viable suggestion for what Israel should do in this situation.
So let's not oversimplify things. It's the single most complicated geopolitical dispute of the last 100 years.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 1:08 PM on November 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Counterpoint: there's a ton of moral ambiguity here.
Yes, the Israeli counterattack is grossly out of proportion, even if you assume a certain amount of propaganda in the way it is being presented. Netanyahu is a monster who needs to be run out of office. I'll also throw in that the West Bank occupation is deplorable and should be immediately withdrawn.
At the same time:
- Palestinians have been offered their own state multiple times and refused
- Arabs have started every war against Israel
- Hamas has broken every ceasefire it has agreed to
- The leaders of Hamas are rich assholes who live outside of Palestine and place the destruction of Israel over helping the people of Gaza
- Hamas purposely puts innocent Palestinians in harm's way by putting command centers under hospitals and civilian areas
Demanding that Israel "stop the siege on Gaza" without saying a thing about hostages is a problem too. Israel's "we need to defend ourselves" is increasingly looking like bullshit, but no one has provided a viable suggestion for what Israel should do in this situation.
So let's not oversimplify things. It's the single most complicated geopolitical dispute of the last 100 years.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 1:08 PM on November 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
In this context, with an artwork by an indigenous person'an' indigenous person is an interesting way to say this - one of these two artists had their own little pretendian scandal.
posted by kickingtheground at 1:46 PM on November 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Did I say the conflict was uncomplicated? No. But there’s two types of people in this world. Those who when they hear thousands of children have been bombed, say “I need to see the context” before judging. And those that don’t. Demanding a cease fire is as clear a line as we can get.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 2:00 PM on November 6, 2023
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 2:00 PM on November 6, 2023
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