The Guggenheim’s first Black curator Chaédria LaBouvier is calling the New York City museum out for not acknowledging her historic feat last year when she became the first Black person to curate a solo exhibition inside their halls.
And it just so happens LaBouvier called them to the carpet as the museum attempted to participate in Blackout Tuesday, a day created by two Black executives in the music industry, urging companies to call out racism and discrimination as millions around the world are protesting police brutality after George Floyd’s murder.
After The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum tweeted that they were “observing Blackout Tuesday” and standing “in solidarity with those demanding justice and an end to racism,” LaBouvier replied in her own tweet: “Get the entire f-ck out of here. I am Chaédria LaBouvier, the first Black curator in your 80 year history & you refused to acknowledge that while also allowing Nancy Spector to host a panel about my work w/o inviting me Erase this shit. Please RT.”
Get the entire fuck out of here. I am Chaédria LaBouvier, the first Black curator in your 80 year history & you refused to acknowledge that while also allowing Nancy Spector to host a panel about my work w/o inviting meErase this shit.Please RT. https://t.co/LH7YYWcLT5
— No Quarter Will Be Given (@chaedria) June 2, 2020
She continued, “This is the same museum that made up an IMAGINARY designation of ‘first solo Black curator’ b/c they were too afraid to admit that they had not hired a Black curator to lead a show in 80 years and erased me and history in the process. They are full of shit.”
ESSENCE reached out to reps for the Guggenheim along with Spector, but haven’t heard back yet.
LaBouvier made history last year with her exhibit, “Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’: The Untold Story” that explored Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art and activism in a 1980s New York City.
The curator was vocal then about issues she had with the exhibit’s roll out, and Guggenheim’s COO Elizabeth Duggal, including not being allowed to oversee the deinstallation process, which is typically a part of a curator’s duties; having no input during the creation of a digital audio guide and playlist; and being allegedly shut out from a panel publicizing the exhibit.
ESSENCE reached out to Duggal, but hasn’t heard back yet.
It went down at the Guggenheim! @chaedria is the first Black curator toexhibit with the institution with her show Basquiat: Defacement The Untold Story. They left her off the panel and….. pic.twitter.com/UjM5NlpBRz
— bad news women (@badnewswomen) November 6, 2019
In fact, LaBouvier showed up to the panel last November to say, in essence, the museum had used her.
“What has gone down is so violent. It’s so violent,” she said last year, “and it’s meant to be that way. And of course it’s an institution that condones and looks the other way but there’s also a very traceable step of how that happens.”
Duggal responded that night, saying that the panel had been planned “a long time ago” and doesn’t always include an exhibition’s curator. She also addressed LaBouvier directly.
“Your work is much appreciated,” she said then. “We do really respect and honor your work and everything that you’ve done.”
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