Image caption: Danielle SeeWalker, G is for Genocide, 2024
In May, NCAC was alarmed to learn about the Town of Vail, Colorado’s decision to cancel Danielle SeeWalker’s artist residency with the town’s Art in Public Places Program. The residency was to include the commission of a new mural, a photo exhibition of existing work depicting contemporary Native American life, a workshop on creating parfleche, and a public talk.
Just a few weeks before the residency was to begin, however, SeeWalker was notified that, in response to community complaints about an unrelated artwork, the town would cancel the residency program out of fears that the work, and the artist’s political views expressed on social media would “politicize” the public art program. The artwork in question was created for a different exhibition and illustrates a portrait of a figure wearing a keffiyeh adorned with an eagle feather, and is titled G is for Genocide.
In a democratic society, it should be anticipated and accepted that artists may wish to comment on political issues—both in their personal lives and in art. Artists’ right to political and civic expression must be defended, not punished. For a town to censor an artist based on a complainant’s specific political views is impermissible under the first amendment.
Read NCAC’s full letter to the Art in Public Places Program here:Click here for a full-screen view: