Image: Brooklyn Museum, New York
‘Drawing America: US@250’ is a season of art installations, programs, and partnerships honoring those who have imagined a more equitable future and fought for the promise of democracy, including those who continue to do so today. As it heads toward Election Day, the programme culminates with a special artist performance and a symposium considering the possibilities of American democracy today.
The season includes the exhibitions ‘Common Sense’ and ‘Donald Moffett: IMPEACH’, as well as the installation ‘What season is it, America?’, featuring poetry and images by Keith Yamashita.
‘IMPEACH’ is an immersive sound installation by Donald Moffett that invites listeners to hear Lewis’s words and their echoes anew. Removing the speech from its original context, Moffett focuses attention on details of the congressman’s story, echoes of applause, and the sound of the gavel.
Works by Paul Ramírez Jonas, Charles Gaines, and Jason Kao Hwang address how community and music can reinforce democracy’s core tenets, while pieces by Öyvind Fahlström, Joyce Kozloff, Hank Willis Thomas, and Kara Walker represent and reframe American histories of turmoil and progress.
Keith Yamashita’s work in the Brooklyn Museum’s lobby asks, ‘What season is it, America?’ and encourages viewers to find their own answers as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. The Free Speech Factory Outlet pop-up features protest signs designed by Stephen Powers, whose posters deliver urgent calls for change and messages of hope as rallying cries for an evolving nation.
