Following President Trump’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the Art Museum of the Americas has cancelled two exhibitions.
The exhibition “Nature’s Wild with Andil Gosine” was set to be installed this week at the Art Museum of the Americas, which is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), but it was canceled without a stated cause earlier this month.
The solo show was adapted from the artist’s 2021 book Nature’s Wild: Love, Sex and Law in the Caribbean. The volume brought together topics of art, activism, and homosexuality in religion. “Nature’s Wild with Andil Gosine” was organized in collaboration with a dozen other artists and several writers.
“For three years, I have imagined every centimeter of the three galleries for this work,” artist Andil Gosine told Hyperallergic, which first reported the news. “The work was made for that space.”
It is unclear why the exhibition was canceled, but the General Secretariat of the OAS reportedly ordered the exhibition’s closure.
Gosine believes it is because the museum branded it as a “queer show.” The main work in the show is a photograph of the artist taken in where he grew up in rural Trinidad at three years old dressing in all blue with sparkly shoes and his hands on his hips.
Gosine’s show was canceled days before another curated by Cheryl D. Edwards of works by African-descended Caribbean and American artists—the latter of which was canceled at the request of the Trump administration because it was deemed a “DEI program and event.” Both shows were expected to open on March 21.
Funding for Gosine’s show came from artist grants, the WorldPride organization, and the Canadian permanent mission to the OAS. The cancellation may reflect the museum’s efforts to carry out the Trump administration’s updated priorities for US foreign diplomacy, which includes “combat[ting] genuine enemy propaganda.”
Pending Senate confirmation Trump named former Conair executive Leandro Rizzuto Jr. to be the US ambassador to the OAS. This year, Trump reinstated a policy from his first term that favors “classical” styles for government buildings over modernist ones as part of a larger interest in controlling art and art institutions, including appointing himself as chair of the Kennedy Center board.
“I am concerned that this sort of thing will have a chilling effect on other artists and writers, some of whom might be tempted, if they hope to be shown, to tailor their work to fit the new, conservative and ultimately boring model,” Canadian cultural critic Deborah Root, who collaborated with Gosine on the exhibition, told Hyperallergic.
