When Museums Protest Immigration Ban

The Prophet, Parviz Tanavoli, Iranina artist, from MoMA

In a protest against the President's immigration ban from seven Muslim countries, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is displaying Muslim art from some of these countries from its permanent collection.

Moreover, according to this New York Times story, the museum placed wall text beside each painting saying

“This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States, according to a presidential executive order issued on Jan. 27, 2017. This is one of several such artworks from the Museum’s collection installed throughout the fifth-floor galleries to affirm the ideals of welcome and freedom as vital to this Museum as they are to the United States.”

The museum displayed seven works from artists from some of the banned countries including Iran, Sudan, and Iraq. The image above is from an Iranian.

Should museums display their politics so overtly? This might be a good question for students to debate.

As my colleague Mr. Feinstein noted, the story has interesting implications for both currents events and religion.