A Nation Takes Place draws together a transnational collection of artwork by 38 artists to examine the connection between water and nation, water and sovereignty, and water and reimagined ecologies. While archives provide some access to the past, there are histories that have been erased, histories that remain inaccessible to language, and histories resistant to being written. In these gaps, the artists in A Nation Takes Place help us to fill in the spaces where words cannot. This exhibitions seeks to help us comprehend the complexity of the United States’ formation ,a project unthinkable without waterways, conquest, and slave ships. The artists approach maritime art looking toward the ways that the imaginaries of seafaring are tethered to the lethal technologies of enslavement, colonialism, genocide, dispossession and extraction.
A Nation Takes Place
Kent Monkman, Saving the New Comers, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. 84 × 126 in.
Calida Rawles, Our Grace, 2022. Jacquard tapestry. 96 × 78 in.
Katrina Andry, The Promise of the Rainbow Never Came #6, 2018.
Color reduction woodcut, woodcut, and mylar. 60 × 44 in.
Jacob Lawrence, Revolt on the Amistad, 1989. Color screenprint on wove paper. 40 1/8 × 32 1/8 in.
Gordon Coons, We Cannot Be Redacted, 2019. Relief print, 41.5 × 29.5 in.
Radcliffe Bailey, Creole, 2013. Steel. 70 × 60 × 20 in.
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Nkyinkyim: Forced, 2024. Concrete and Iron. 30 × 18 in.
Sokari Ekine, Takasa Wudo, 2017. Kenya. Archival inkjet print. 36 × 24 in.
See Also
“Our grantees range from small arts organizations with one staff member to major museums, yet they all provide essential resources for artists as well as innovative platforms for critical cultural dialogue. Creative risk-taking is at the heart of this country’s most meaningful social, political, and cultural developments, therefore we are proud to stand behind artist-centered organizations that support experimental practice.”
Joel Wachs, President