State Department Removes 2013 Wiley Painting From Embassy as Trump Appointees Brand It Woke
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 25
State Department Removes 2013 Wiley Painting From Embassy as Trump Appointees Brand It Woke
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 25
Summary
A Kehinde Wiley canvas commissioned in 2013 for the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic was taken down last week and covered with a U.S.-flag tarp before removal.
Erin Scavino, who runs the State Department’s Art in Embassies program, said on a podcast the work was “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifying,” while Ambassador Leah Campos said embassy art should reflect “American patriotism.”
The department did not point to anything in the painting itself; instead, a spokeswoman cited Wiley’s 2023 “kill whitey” remark about another work and sexual-assault allegations he denies, adding the agency may try to sell the piece.
The removal widens a Trump-era push to remake the Kennedy-era embassy art program, after officials also boasted of quickly stripping artwork from the U.S. residence in Bucharest and staging a nearly 70-work “Make Art Great Again” flag show in Washington.