DC gallery pulls exhibits of Black and LGBTQ+ artists amid Trump DEI crackdown

A Washington DC art gallery has unexpectedly canceled two exhibitions featuring Black and LGBTQ+ artists, sparking accusations that it has succumbed to Donald Trump’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

The Art Museum of the Americas, operated by the Organization of American States (OAS), was set to showcase the exhibitions Nature’s Wild with Andil Gosine and Before the Americas in March.

According to ‘The Guardian’, the exhibits’ cancellation coincided with an executive order from the Trump administration that called for a review of ties with international organisations receiving U.S.A. funding. To Gosine, this represents a disturbing instance of pre-emptive compliance—acting in anticipation.

“There’s a long history of the arts being attacked by conservative forces,” the 51-year-old Canadian artist and curator stated to the Guardian. “What I’m disappointed about with the OAS is that this is not Trump’s action; this is anticipating. This, for me, is even scarier because it feels like we have this closeup view to how fascism unfolds.”

The decision was a significant setback for Gosine, a professor of environmental arts and justice at York University in Toronto, who invested years into the exhibition. It drew inspiration from his 2021 book ‘Nature’s Wild: Love, Sex and Law in the Caribbean’, delving into topics of ecology, sexuality, and human rights. His desire to collaborate with public institutional spaces led him to the OAS and its Art Museum of the Americas in Washington.

“For three years they have been consistently enthusiastic,” he remarked. “Every time I proposed something they were quick to write letters of support for it. They seemed very happy up to the day before cancellation; I have all these enthusiastic emails. I don’t think we had one bad word in that time.”

Gosine further explained, “I have not put more resources or time into any project. This was to be the feather in my cap because it was a very personal project. I grew up in Trinidad; the exhibition was about unpacking a life. The signature image for the exhibition was an image of me at three years [old].”

The exhibition was to feature works by a dozen artists from the Americas, many of whom are LGBTQ+ people of colour. It was planned to include various forms of art such as sculpture, photography, video, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, and collage, with a video installation by the Black artist Lorraine O’Grady, who passed away in December at the age of 90.

Gosine utilised funds granted to him to minimise the budget, by creating work in the US to avoid shipping costs from Canada. World Pride had selected it as a marquee arts event and planned dedicated programming. The opening was advanced to 21 March to accommodate a Canadian mission’s visit.

However, at 9 am on 5 February, Gosine received a call from the museum’s director, Adriana Ospina. “She said: ‘I’ve been ordered to cancel the exhibition.’ She didn’t give a direct reason. I mean, I was in shock. Never in a million years.”

“There are lots of challenges to this space; I was prepared to make up for all of them. But there would be no discussion. She alluded to budget restraints at their museum but that was perplexing because in fact they were contributing almost nothing to the show.”

Ospina sent a follow-up letter but did not provide a reason for the cancellation, according to Gosine. However, Gosine sees a clear connection. On 4 February, Trump issued an executive order instructing his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, to evaluate relationships with international organisations receiving U.S.A. funding. The U.S.A. is the largest donor to the OAS secretariat's budget, contributing $55 million (approximately £ 44 million) last year.

“It’s not accidental that on February 4 they get a letter saying, ‘Hey, we might pull out your budget’ and on February 5, they’re like, ‘OK!’” he noted. “The quickness of the response suggests to me that this is what I think will be a losing attempt to appease the administration.”

Gosine feels the OAS has sacrificed its values for no benefit. “How is an organization like this one, that’s been so associated with their human rights work more than anything else, going to fit in to a new political order? How smart is it to throw their allies, their communities under the bus for something that will not be successful? I can’t imagine them keeping their budgets, given what kinds of cuts the US administration is making.”

Although Gosine had meticulously planned every detail of the space for three years, the original concept of the show cannot be replicated, though components will continue in exhibitions and events in Montreal, Toronto, and New York. A substantial catalogue, slated for release last week, will not be published.

Trump’s dismantling of DEI initiatives throughout the federal government included the closure of diversity offices at the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as the cancellation of a collaboration between the U.S.A. Marine Band and young musicians of colour.

He has also assumed control of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and placed an ally as interim president. Concerns arise that his capacity to threaten funding will cultivate a new political environment, discouraging cultural institutions from engaging with subjects related to race, identity, and social justice.

Gosine remarked, “The hardest part of that for me to understand is how people all the way along the line bend to the political tide. I reached out to a few people to get advice on this and I was surprised: there are powerful people who are big critics of Trump but who are unwilling to be uncomfortable. ‘Well, how do I make sure my consultancy contract isn’t at stake?’”

“I feel people who have the most to risk are risking it. When I told the artists, they were ready to go to the streets. But it astonishes me how people in power are looking after what they mistakenly believe is a self-interest that will protect just them. It doesn’t work like that. When human rights recede, everything comes tumbling down.”

Another exhibition, ‘Before the Americas’, also canceled, included works by African American, Afro-Latino, and Caribbean artists, exploring the impact of the transatlantic slave trade and African diaspora. Curator Cheryl Edwards also received a call from Ospina, notifying her of the exhibition’s cancellation.

Edwards stated the sole reason given for the cancellation was “because it is DEI”, as reported by the Washington Post. “You can’t tell me that the artists I’ve chosen for this exhibit are not top quality. The whole museum is DEI under that definition.”

The Art Museum of the Americas declares in its mission statement that it “exhibits, collects, studies, and conserves modern and contemporary art of the Americas, in order to promote cultural exchange to advance the OAS four pillars of democracy, human rights, multidimensional security and integral development”.