Introduction
Decolonization requires abandoning the conventional narrative that glorifies indigenous worldviews and superficial traditions. Instead, it advocates removing colonial mechanisms that oppress people of color and Indigenous communities (Huff, 2022). Decolonization seeks to remove colonialism, patriarchal and politicized hierarchies, and Indigenous sovereignty (Huff, 2022). Settler’s innocent movements tame these desires.
Decolonization metaphors may detract from decolonization. Thus, this study stresses maintaining museums and other cultural assets. This report uses the seminar question “Are museums and heritages not neutral spaces because they present political and social constructions of the world based on Western colonial views?” as its guiding principle to comprehend the processes of decolonization, anti-colonization, and indigenization within the museum and heritage sector.
Case Study
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City has been the target of criticism for its role in the ongoing oppression and marginalization of people of color as global demonstrations against police brutality and systematic racism have spread. For example, in 2019, Chaédria LaBouvier made history as the first Black curator and the first Black woman to organize a retrospective in New York’s Guggenheim Museum titled Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’: The Untold Story (Holmes, 2020).
The exhibition discussed the famous artist’s aesthetic confrontation with the power of the legal system. However, the presenter was called out for denying LaBouvier’s claim to ownership of her Basquiat’s Defacement, which was seen as an act of post-colonization. Nancy Spector held a show at the museum without permission from LaBouvier.
Provenance of the Objects
Original
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s (1960-1988) artwork The Death of Michael Stewart, also known as Defacement, inspired this display (McClinton, 2019). This piece is a memorial to young Black artist Michael Stewart, who New York City Transit Police arrested for tagging a wall at the East Village subway station (McClinton, 2019). Basquiat’s painting was a very intimate sorrow seldom presented in a public setting; it was first painted on the wall of Keith Haring’s studio within a week after Stewart’s death. The show, which included the demise of Michael Stewart as its central work, looked at Basquiat’s efforts to create a distinct artistic language of autonomy.
Present Day
Basquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story examines this period of his work through the lens of his identity and the Lower East Side as a center of activism in the early 1980s when the art market was booming, the AIDS epidemic was at its peak, and New York City’s racial tensions were at their highest. After LaBouviers was denied ownership of her exhibition, it was released on November 6, 2019 (Huff, 2022). LaBouvier’s audience criticism of the museum’s tactics went viral despite her absence from the panel. LaBouvier said on Twitter, BlackTuesday, that the museum and its Artistic Director, Nancy Spector, have been at the core of decolonization bias since she started working there.
Major Stakeholders
Defacement has never been sold and is rarely exhibited in public. Nina Clemente, goddaughter of Keith Haring and daughter of the Italian painter Francesco Clement, is its owner. In 2016, autonomous curator Chaédria LaBouvier collaborated with the Williams College Museum of Art in Massachusetts, her alma mater, to transport the work of art to the campus. The paintings had never been sold or displayed to the public.
LaBouvier coordinated Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’: The Untold Story exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2019 (Huff, 2022). The exhibition focused on the painting and the response of the local community to Michael Stewart’s demise—the inaugural exhibition of Stewart’s artwork. Thus, Stewart, Nina Clement, and Chaédria LaBouvier were the primary stakeholders of the artworks.
Ethical Point of View
Provenance of Art
How African Americans have interacted with major museums throughout history. The major museums have not been ethically neutral about racial portrayals of African American artists (Tuck & Yang, 2021). Defacement, by Jean-Michel Basquiat, was not available for purchase or public viewing after its initial creation in 1983.
The artwork was made in response to the police violence Stewart experienced and should have been presented in museums as a means of promoting social equality. According to Das and Lowe (2018), this suggests a white bias in the museum’s displays of African American artists’ work. Chaédria LaBouvier was the first black woman curator among hundreds of white women curators during the controversy surrounding Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’: The Untold Story.
Exhibition
Museum ethical concerns sometimes include art presentations. Due to the museum’s cultural authority and status, exhibits interpret items and themes to create new worlds that visitors typically regard as genuine. Even scientifically impartial and accurate exhibitions reflect the curators’ beliefs and ethics.
Thus, Chaédria LaBouvier’s claim that Nancy Spector presented the art event without her consent and constituted a racial insult against the Guggenheim may be valid. The museum ethics code requires directors to emphasize the institution’s objective and public benefit. This makes Nancy Spector’s behavior immoral (Tuck & Yang, 2021). As the first black woman curator, she held the exhibition without alerting or inviting the other partners.
Management
Decolonization at the Guggenheim Museum excluded white curators. Colombian artist Doris Salcedo dubbed losing one’s job and reputation as a bigot and bully “social death.” Despite no evidence of racial discrimination against LaBouvier, Spector was fired. Several experts considered Nancy’s career death immoral.
However, experts ascribed the problem to the powerful’s desire, when confronted with rebellion and held accountable for their acts, to blame one person whose departure would clear the slate. Senior management disregarded Chaédria LaBouvier’s concerns. Even worse, Chaédria LaBouvier said her junior staff insulted her. Without full cultural diversity, McClinton (2019) predicts workplace conflicts.
Ownership
LaBouvier felt disregarded by Guggenheim’s desire to edit portions of the essay she had written for the exhibition catalog, resulting in a dispute over the proprietorship of the work. Chaédria LaBouvier asserts that Nancy Spector attempted to appropriate her works, causing her to lose possession of those not credited to her. She even compared Nancy to a white woman recently in the news for calling the police on a black birdwatcher.
Cultural diversity in property ownership plays a significant role (Holmes, 2020). Chaédria LaBouvier equated her non-invitation to host the exhibition with the Guggenheim’s fraudulent appropriation of culture for financial gain, which equates to cultural larceny (Holmes, 2020). Therefore, it is simple to recognize that cultural appropriation is immoral and unethical.
Analysis of the Art
Two police officers, one with a pink face and predatory fangs, swing batons at a black figure in Defacement. Above them, the phrase Defacement appears. Stewart is the guy in the shadows, but the figure may stand in for any black male who has been brutalized by law enforcement (McClinton, 2019). The works include the signatures of graffiti writers Daze and Zephyr. Artist David Wojnarowicz made a leaflet criticizing Stewart’s near-murder in Union Square on September 26, 1983, while Stewart was still in a coma (McClinton, 2019). The leaflet depicted skeleton police officers using batons to beat a shackled black man.
Gaps in Cultural Understanding of Arts
African Americans saw things differently. White artists found the painting too intense and personal. White supremacy causes museum-marginalized community conflict. A new approach is needed to overcome past wrongs and reach mutual respect and acceptance. Mendes (2021) argues that ethics do not exist outside of culture.
Cultural and ethical theories are essential for effective cross-cultural interactions (Lewis, 2022). Native communities put collective well-being above self-interest. As such, balanced museum displays have frequently been awkward and insulting to minority cultures and history.
First Proposed Solution
Museums should conserve and explain human culture—not just the dominant culture. Museums must balance their “duties” to minorities and artists. Legislation and quotas are unlikely to change anything.
To eliminate white supremacy in museums, honest and open conversation with impacted minorities is necessary (Huff, 2022). Education and communication unleash solutions. Creating the best educational route takes significant introspection and a willingness to modify. Schools and museum conferences should routinely discuss inclusivity and cultural diversity.
Second Proposed Solution
The second step of cultural acceptability, understanding minority art and culture, requires minority museum employees to guarantee that the offerings represent the culture’s true voice. Thus, museum strategic plans must identify and address staff and board racial and ethnic disparities. Just like Yagan Square, nonprofit museums should have a board of directors (Gilchrist, 2018). Board term extension restrictions allow yearly recruitment of a restricted number of diverse community groups. Diversity training may help existing personnel balance museum programming.
Conclusion
Colonialism left an English-speaking civilization based on White supremacy. The Guggenheim Museum shows how colonialism affects their judgment and decision-making. Museums should “decolonize” their collection policies, exhibition goals, and recruiting processes to embrace today’s multicultural visual arts and values.
Museums may transform society by showcasing racialized and marginalized cultures. However, this societal transformation can only happen if museum leaders are dedicated to the process. A code of ethics should underpin all institutional and professional reforms. Thus, museums and cultural heritage are not neutral sites regarding Western colonial dominance.
References
Das, S., & Lowe, M. (2018). Nature read in black and white: Decolonial approaches to interpreting natural history collections. Journal of Natural Science Collections, 6, 4-14.
Gilchrist, S. (2018). Surfacing histories: Memorials and public art in Perth. Artlink, 38(2), pp. 42-47. Web.
Holmes, H. (2020). The Guggenheim’s first black curator is denouncing the museum’s treatment of her. Web.
Huff, L. (2022). Museum decolonization: Moving away from narratives told by the oppressors. Web.