Wellesley Museum to Remove or Cover Immigrant Artwork in Protest of Trump

WELLESLEY, MA – The Davis Museum at Wellesley College is planning a Presidents' Day weekend protest against President Donald Trump's immigration policy. Beginning Thursday, the museum will either cloak or remove altogether all works created by artists or donated by collectors who immigrated to the United States.

The museum estimates about 20 percent of its collection was made possible by immigrants.

"For the days leading up to and including the Presidents' Day holiday weekend we have removed or cloaked these works to demonstrate symbolically what the Davis Museum would look like without their contributions to our collections and to Wellesley College, and to thereby honor their many invaluable gifts," the museum writes.

Absences created by the removal of covering of works will be marked by labels stating "made by an immigrant" or "given by an immigrant." The museum has also made their labels available for download for other institutions that wish to participate.

The demonstration will end on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.

Photo Credit: Davis Museum Staff (Davis Museum) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons