University of Kentucky Memorial Hall mural
Artist: Ann Rice O’Hanlon
Year: 1934
Date of Action: November 25, 2015
Region: North America
Location: Lexington, Kentucky, United States of America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Painting, Public Art
Confronting Bodies: University of Kentucky
Description of Artwork: Ann Rice O'Hanlon depicted American Southern life in a 38 feet wide by 11 feet tall fresco for the University of Kentucky's Memorial Hall. The artist was an alumna of the University of Kentucky who painted the work in 1934 as part of the Public Works of Art project. She used bright colors, solid figures, and a large landscape view to capture a variety of visual vignettes. The mural, which covers one wall of the lobby of Memorial Hall, depicts the history of Kentucky, including explorers on the frontier, horse racing and scenes of downtown Lexington, the construction of log cabins, fishing off a bridge, passengers riding in a train, and horse training. It also depicts four African-Americans in a line bending over to pick tobacco, white individuals dancing to music played by black musicians, and a Native American peering from the woods at a white woman gathering water from a stream.
The Incident: In early November 2015, around two dozen black students expressed offense to University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto at the depiction of slavery in the mural. On November 23, 2015, Capiluoto released a statement saying,
"One African American student recently told me that each time he walks into class at Memorial Hall he looks at the black men and women toiling in tobacco fields and receives the terrible reminder that his ancestors were enslaved, subjugated by his fellow humans. Worse still, the mural provides a sanitized image of that history."
On November 25, 2015, the entire fresco was covered in white sheets. Capiluoto referred to the shrouding as an interim action, as a "long-term answer will take some time."
Results of Incident: The novelist Wendell Berry, related to the artist by marriage and a University of Kentucky alumni, published a critique of the shrouding in the Lexington Herald-Leader, arguing, “Ann painted the Memorial Hall fresco in 1934, when it took some courage to declare so boldly that slaves had worked in Kentucky fields...Nobody would have objected if she had left them out. The uniform clothing and posture of the workers denotes an oppressive regimentation. The railroad, its cars filled with white passengers, seems to be borne upon the slaves’ bent backs.”
In addition to the cover, Capilouto created a task force made up of faculty, staff and students. They concluded the mural should be shown as a work or art, but should be displayed with wall texts that give additional context.
The mural was uncovered April 2017. A sign was installed nearby that describes the history of the mural, including the concerns voiced about it over the years. UK plans on commissioning additional public art to be placed in the Memorial Hall lobby.
In a blog post, Capilouto stated:
“Against that backdrop, the concern, for many, is that the mural does not adequately reflect the violence and inhumanity that many experienced through subjugation and slavery,” he said. “Those questions of intent, context and perception have become part of a larger conversation at UK about racial climate. And, as is so often the case, we’ve been led by students.”
Source:
• http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article100481602.html
Controversial UK mural uncovered, this time with context, BY LINDA BLACKFORD, March 24, 2017
