Summer of Inspiration: Artist Date Week 13

There's something about visiting a museum alone, ideally untethered to time restrictions, that can be so transformative. The luxury of lingering at a portrait or analyzing each piece with only my thoughts is a special treat.

I'm grateful to have caught Amy Sherald's exhibit, American Sublime, at the Whitney Museum a couple of days before it ended. Sherald is first and foremost a storyteller who noticed a lack of people who look like her in the museums she visited. So she decided to create the images she wants to see by crafting narratives of everyday Black Americans, much like the works of Edward Hopper.

[Her works] center everyday Black Americans, compelling in their individuality and extraordinary in their ordinariness, inviting viewers to step into Sherald’s imagined worlds.

This short video of Sherald by Art21 that played as part of the exhibit hooked me from the get-go and moved me to tears. It was so inspiring to hear Sherald talk about her process, her upbringing, and her motivation behind her work. When she shared the process of painting Breonna Taylor, I was moved by her care and dedication to representing Taylor in a way that captured her essence and humanity. She wasn't merely a victim of police brutality; she was a daughter, a partner, and a fashion enthusiast.

I also loved the scale of some of her paintings that feel larger than life.

Upon entering some parts of the exhibit, I couldn't help but stop in my tracks and gaze upon the many lives that are lacking representation in America, lives that are typically depicted in mass media through stereotypes and negative connotations.

In the Art21 video, we see the way Sherald directs and styles the models for this particular painting, which is reminiscent of the iconic V-J Day in Times Square photography by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a male sailor kissing a female civilian. Through this restaging, Sherald is advocating for a more nuanced understanding of masculinity.

Across For Love, and For Country is Trans Forming Liberty, Sherald's response to the rising threats and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community and gender non-conforming individuals across the country. A non-binary trans-femme person, modeled after drag performer and musician Arewà Basit, is illustrated as the Statue of Liberty to redefine freedom in America.

It was an honor to see this painting in person, especially after Sherald canceled her exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery due to censorship concerns over this particular painting.

This served as a reminder of the political power of art as a symbol of resistance and a tool for empowerment.