University-Sponsored "Activist Art" Exhibit Includes Depiction of Severed Trump Head
The gallery description asks, "Why does this feel out of place—but Abraham Lincoln standing atop Bascom Hill does not?"
An art exhibit hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) includes pieces that depict Bucky Badger wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit, former Chancellor Rebecca Blank carrying a noose, and a man holding Donald Trump’s severed head with the White House burning in the background.
Alongside Da Hoodzeum, the OMAI presented a pop-up called In Direct Action: A Decade of Activist Art at UW-Madison, which is hosted at the School of Education Gallery. It began on April 5 and ends on April 24.
The “In Direct Action” exhibit features art created from activism and political movements over the past 10 years at UW-Madison. The exhibition contains walls of political t-shirts, sweatshirts and student artwork, such as posters and signs that were used in various protests. In addition to the student work, there are displays of historical relics - newspapers, flyers and everyday objects - from the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.
The gallery also includes a flier for an upcoming campus event featuring conservative activist Christopher Rufo. Hosted by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership and the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy (CROWE), Rufo will discuss higher education reform on April 22. However, the exhibit says the flier is included because it marks “the active presence of reactionary discourse on campus.”
CROWE director Ananth Seshadri gave a statement to The Madison Federalist via email. “I strongly support the university’s role in hosting student-created art and historical artifacts, even when the content is provocative or controversial,” he said. “Free expression is foundational to a university.”
However, he felt that “true dialogue requires openness to counterarguments,” and “exhibits like these feel more like ideological reinforcement than an invitation to debate.”
The exhibit features a large cardboard caricature of former Chancellor Blank holding a noose with the caption “MAKE UW GREAT AGAIN.” Seshadri believes this is “profoundly distasteful, especially following her recent passing.” The use of this imagery “as protest art is a striking illustration of selective outrage.”
Even though Seshadri found the caricature “misguided,” it is protected by free speech, which Chancellor Blank heavily defended. “True commitment to free expression requires consistently defending even speech we find deeply objectionable,” he said.
Seshadri believes this exhibit “risks deeper division.” One of the pieces of clothing that was displayed read “All white people are racist.” This message “promotes a sweeping racial generalization that is not supported by evidence and substitutes collective racial guilt for individual accountability.”
Rufo tweeted in response to the Federalist’s reporting, “This is insane, left-wing activists at the University of Wisconsin are calling for assassinations.” He called for a strong security presence at his speech.
The OMAI “integrates traditional academics and cutting edge arts activism” and “empowers transnational leaders with new tools for inclusive community building.” It was a unit of the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement until the DDEEA was dissolved last year. Many former DDEEA staffers were retained by the university and kept their job titles, including in the OMAI.
The gallery description recognized the controversial nature of some of the pieces. It said, “You may question what belongs in a museum, what counts as history, what feels ‘appropriate.’ But ask yourself: Why does this disturb you– while monuments to slavery, colonialism, and state violence remain normalized? Why does this feel out of place—but Abraham Lincoln standing atop Bascom Hill does not?”
The Lincoln statue has faced criticism and calls for removal from left-wing activists in the past. A 2023 editorial from The Badger Herald suggested the statue was “racist memorabilia” and that “unfettered admiration of Lincoln is disappointing.” Before that, in 2020, calls for the statue’s removal grew so loud that then-Chancellor Blank released a statement defending its continued presence.
According to a video by The Badger Herald, Da Hoodzeum is a pop-up museum based in Wisconsin that centers on Black history and cultural movements. The pop-up was founded by activist Mike Davis, and it is “a home for over 4,000 artifacts” dating back to the 1800s to the present.
Seshadri believes the controversial exhibit is a sign that, “We need to get back to basics – excellence grounded by sifting and winnowing.”
The OAMI did not return a request for comment from The Federalist.
This is an ongoing story, and additional responses will be added.