Amy Sherald‘s portrait of a Black transgender Statue of Liberty has now officially graced the cover of the New Yorker after she said in July that National Portrait Gallery leadership objected to it, leading her to cancel that museum’s planned iteration of her traveling survey.
The portrait of model and performance artist Arewà Basit, titled Trans Forming Liberty (2024), is currently on view at the Whitney Museum’s iteration of her survey, which is nearing the end of its run.
According to Sherald, the museum began discussing the possibility of replacing the painting with a video of reactions and a discussion of trans concerns that would also include anti-trans views. She pulled the show, accusing the museum of censorship.
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The Smithsonian explained in a statement that it was trying to contextualize rather than replace the work. The Trump administration, however, criticized the show in a statement to the New York Times, saying that the “removal of this exhibit is a principled and necessary step” in restoring the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibitions and programming, which have been under review.
For her part, Sherald told the New Yorker that Trans Forming Liberty “challenges who we allow to embody our national symbols—and who we erase.” She added, “It demands a fuller vision of freedom, one that includes the dignity of all bodies, all identities. Liberty isn’t fixed. She transforms, and so must we. This portrait is a confrontation with that truth.”
Sherald’s survey, “American Sublime,” features some 50 works, including her official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama. The show was originally organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and traveled to the Whitney Museum, where it is on view through August 10.
The iteration set for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery would have marked the first solo presentation of its kind by a Black contemporary artist at the institution. The show was slated to open in September.
The Smithsonian has been the subject of repeated scrutiny since a Trump executive order that accused its museums of disseminating “anti-American ideology.” Last week, the Smithsonian was revealed to have removed a placard from the National Museum of American History that initially included information about Trump’s two impeachments. On Saturday, the Smithsonian publicly addressed its removal, promising an “updated” version of the presentation “in the coming weeks to reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation’s history.”
This is the second time Sherald’s work has been featured on the cover of the New Yorker this year. Sherald’s portrait of a young Black woman drinking from a tea cup, titled Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance), 2013, covered an issue in March.
