Read on Twitter
Horrified to hear that the @whitneymuseum has reached out to a slew of Black photographers informing them that prints acquired via the first See in Black print sale — meant to be a fundraiser for Black social justice orgs — will be exhibited as part of a show opening in 3 weeks.
This is not a responsible or a respectful way to engage with artists — nor does it feel particularly sound for an institution with a $300 million+ endowment to acquire $100 prints that were priced to benefit anti-racism non-profits.
This is the exhibition, set to open on September 17. That e-mail went out to artists LAST NIGHT. http://whitney.org/exhibitions/collective-actions
The Whitney has faced repeated criticism for a lack of diversity in their programming, and most recently came under fire for having Warren Kanders — who owns a company that manufactures tear-gas grenades routinely used by law enforcement — on their board. http://nytimes.com/2019/07/25/arts/whitney-warren-kanders-resigns.html
The list of artists in Collective Actions looks to be almost exclusively POC: this is most definitely not the path to repairing a fractured relationship with artists of color who have been historically shut out from mainstream art institutions. https://pastebin.com/GyxXQSBH
See in Black's ( @seeinblackphoto) statement: https://twitter.com/seeinblackphoto/status/1298299201231749123?s=20
