On Monday a Twitter thread by Rafael Shimunov showed the installation of two protest pieces in the Whitney Museum of American Art that hoped to highlight an online petition asking the museum to sever ties with its Vice Chairman, Warren B. Kanders, who owns Safariland, a tear gas manufacturer whose weapons were used against migrants last month on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Just installed a new @ArtvWar exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Art.
It’s a entitled Mother with Daughters in Tear Gas.#WhitneyTearGas
Sign the @ColorOfChange petition here and end Whitney leadership’s deals with Trump.https://t.co/PpjJiIbF7q pic.twitter.com/s9eUnHrTER
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
We even had time for questions and answers. #WhitneyTearGas pic.twitter.com/2N84FjziVu
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
#WhitneyTearGas pic.twitter.com/d3Rg9DwTj3
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
Weeks ago 100+ @whitneymuseum staff signed a letter demanding the vice chairman step down after being exposed as the owner of tear gas and chemical grenades used by Trump on caravan children.
Sunday #DecolonizeThisPlace shut it down.
Today @ArtvWar reopened it#WhitneyTearGas pic.twitter.com/jSWp4pnZID
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
#WhitneyTearGas pic.twitter.com/4f3fROWxAx
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
Please share and sign the petition to tell @whitneymuseum to drop their weapons contractor vice chair, who is profiteering from Trump’s attacks on families and children fleeing for asylum. #WhitneyTearGas https://t.co/PpjJiIbF7q
— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) December 10, 2018
The protest paintings were interpretations of photographs taken last month when U.S. border agents used tear gas against migrants.
The petition says the following: “We call on Co-Chairmember Susan K. Hess and Thomas E. Tuft as well as President Richard M. DeMartini and Museum Director Adam Weinberg to acknowledge that Mr. Kander’s war and oppression profiteering is diametrically opposed to the values of the Whitney Museum. We also ask that any threats, implicit or explicit, towards staff —many of which are directly impacted by border policies— for speaking up be rescinded immediately.”
This newest action is the latest in a series of protests against the Whitney. More can be found at #WhitneyTearGas.
