Art Without Immigrants: A Wellesley Museum's Walls Lay Bare

WELLESLEY, MA – The Davis Museum at Wellesley College is protesting President Trump's immigration policy by showing what art would be like without immigrants. On Thursday, the museum covered or removed altogether works created by artists or donated by collectors who immigrated to the United States.

"We decided after the announcement of the travel ban that we should do something to respond," Lisa Fischman, director of the Davis Museum, said. "The way that we could respond most positively proved to be a project where we took down or shrouded 120 works."

The project was the brainchild of Claire Whitner, senior curator at the museum, Fischman told Patch. Twenty-six pieces by 23 artists from 15 different countries and 94 works donated by immigrants – an estimated 20 percent of the museum's collection – have been veiled or taken down, she said.

"It's almost the entire selection of objects in the African galleries," Fischman noted as an example.

In their place, labels stating "made by an immigrant" or "given by an immigrant" remain. The labels were designed by Stoltze Design in Fort Point and created a "graphic identity" for the project, Fischman said.

According to Fischman, the majority of responses to the museum's protest have been positive. The project runs until Tuesday, and the museum will be open Monday for people to come and see the impact immigrants have had on the Davis Museum.

"If we look at the Davis Museum collection as one small case study, we see the enormous impact of immigrant accomplishment or contribution," Fischman said. "If we extrapolate from that we get a sense of how much immigrants have given to American life and culture."

Photos via the Davis Museum, used with permission