The strongest sections, located in the heart of the exhibition space, are Elegy and Groundswell. Elegy, the curators write, gathers “objects to lament the devastating impact of war and social discord.” Jamaican artist Nari Ward’s installation, “Peace Keeper,” packs plenty of emotional punch. First shown at the 1995 Whitney Biennial to rave reviews, the installation was re-constructed in 2020 and acquired by the BMA. Ward literally tarred and feathered (with peacock feathers) a massive 1980’s Cadillac hearse, which sits atop a bed of rusted automotive pipes. Above is an oppressive canopy of car mufflers.
The installation triggers images of charred vehicles on the margins of urban riots and civil strife, signifying the breakdown of justice in the midst of oppression. “I wanted ‘Peace Keeper’ to be a kind of generative battery, to give energy to ideas about trauma and change,” Ward has said. In the context of the museum’s Turn Again to the Earth initiative, “Peace Keeper,” heavy with fossil-fuel iconography, is perhaps best understood as a fitting memorial for the hoped-for end of the hydrocarbon era, or as a funeral for everything the hydrocarbon era will take with it.
Finally, Groundswell may well be the emotional core of the exhibition, shot through with resistance, rage, and revolt. Manipulated American flags by Faith Ringgold and Kiyan Williams—including a flag that has been deep fried in oil—challenge this symbol of state power and nationalism.
Unsurprisingly, Mark Thomas Gibson’s “Biden’s Entry into Washington 2021” remains the most popular piece in the gallery. In an image that now feels prescient, a diminutive President Biden rides a blind donkey into the capital, almost washed out in the scene’s monochrome background. On the foreground, in full color, is a teeming mass of MAGA hats, insurrectionists, hooded Klansmen, provocateurs, clowns, skeletons, and a Trump ventriloquist doll.