At This Museum of African American Culture, Displaying a Confederate Sta tue Is a “Part of Healing”

Today, we start with news about how a Confederate statue ended up in an African American museum, Bank

Sep 1, 2020 • View in browser

Today, we start with news about how a Confederate statue ended up in an African American museum, Banksy’s crew claims EU ignored their requests for help, photography’s role in capturing the recent history of Lebanon, a look at Pakistani cinema today, and more.We won’t be distributing our printed fall guide this year, but instead will be publishing our exhibition picks and previews monthly throughout the fall.(Please forward this email to your friends, or let them know they can sign up here.)– Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

At This Museum of African American Culture, Displaying a Confederate Statue Is a “Part of Healing”

John Guess, the director of the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC), with the newly-installed Spirit of the Confederacy statue (courtesy HMAAC)

When the recent conversation around Confederate statues began, I kept wondering where many of these would end up, knowing some would inevitably be placed in museums. Valentina Di Liscia takes a look at one such statue that is currently on display in the courtyard of the Houston Museum of African American Culture. She spoke to the museum’s CEO, John Guess, who explained the unique opportunity they saw in presenting it:“Healing comes from taking control of negatively impactful symbols and turning them into teaching opportunities to help ensure they never have power again.”Just a reminder that roughly 1,700 Confederate monuments still remain in the United States.

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After a global outcry, Jordan has freed jailed cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, who had been arrested only hours after posting a cartoon satirizing the diplomatic agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.According to crew members, EU officials ignored calls for help after Banksy’s migrant rescue boat exceeded capacity and declared a state of emergency this weekend. Banksy added that EU Authorities “deliberately ignore distress calls from ‘non-Europeans.‘”

Oops! My Bad.

On Sunday, we released our latest theme-focused edition that delved into the topic of “Mistakes.” I am still chewing on all these “mistakes,” but Lucy Lippard’s note about Charles Manson is a standout:There is only one thing I can recall (blame old age) that I now know was an absolutely stupid mistake. I don’t remember the exact date, but around 1969 I called Charles Manson a performance artist, in an attempt to be way cooler than I ever was. I’m not even sure (can’t find the original) that I even called Manson a BAD performance artist. What on earth was I thinking.So, relatable. View all of the essays in this recent edition.I also love this unofficial “tweet” addition to our Mistakes issue by Kealey Boyd.

Kealey Boyd @KealeyBoyd Reminded me of a show where the artist deposited a lone clump of her deceased mother's hair in a small waste basket as part of an installation and cleaning crew tossed it. When shared with another gallerist, without hesitation, she responded "that's why we do our own cleaning." https://t.co/yehKpysKUM 3:23 PM - 30 Aug 2020

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