This All-Day Protest At The National Gallery Is Demanding More Diverse Art
FEB 14, 12:18 PM
This All-Day Protest At The National Gallery Is Demanding More Diverse Art
BreAnna Bell
Radical Matriarchy protested at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2018.
Radical Matriarchy
On Valentines Day, the art project Radical Matriarchy and its leader, Sister Leona, have a message for the National Gallery of Art: We love you, but time to change now.
Leona, whose given name is Michelle Sutherland, and her group are staging events inside and outside the NGA until 5 p.m. in protest of the museums lack of diversity. According to
Radical Matriarchy, 90 percent of the NGAs pieces are created by white men, and less than 3 percent of the works were created by people of color. A
study of museum catalogs conducted in 2018 confirms that statistic. The NGAs
first female director, Kaywin Feldman, is set to take the reins at the museum in March.
Todays event is a second iteration of an event Radical Matriarchy staged last Valentines Day at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Leona took 21 pieces of art created by women to the New York museum, saying that they were protesting the fact that only 4 percent of the artists on display at the museum are women. (Last years study puts that number at 7.3 percent.) That day included live performances including spoken word, dance, and music.
Leona, who is based in New York, began putting todays NGA protest together just 7 days ago when she arrived in D.C., she says, by making flyers and organizing. The goal was to meet all of the artists I could meet and then bring them all out there, she says.
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