On Sept. 20, Charlotte Cummins moderated the Black Women Artists Speak panel at Madison College's Goodman South Campus. 

Artist Emily Leach, who now lives in Massachusetts, is a UW-Madison graduate and was among the artists in the 2022 Triennial. She requested that her art be returned to her ahead of the exhibition's closing on Sunday. 

The 2022 Triennial at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St., comes down this weekend. Only seven artists out of 23 remain in the show. 

The 2022 Wisconsin Triennial, shown here in August, is set to run through Oct. 9 at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art at 227 State St. 

Food editor and arts reporter

Artist Emily Leach, who now lives in Massachusetts, is a UW-Madison graduate and was among the artists in the 2022 Triennial. She requested that her art be returned to her ahead of the exhibition's closing on Sunday. 

The 2022 Wisconsin Triennial opened at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in April with work by 23 artists. It closes this weekend displaying art by only seven.

On Sunday afternoon outside the museum, Triennial artist Portia Cobb is organizing a “closing celebration” to honor the work of all the artists, starting at noon when the museum opens. 

“The museum has made the unusual choice to not host any supportive programming for this exhibition since its opening,” Cobb wrote in a release. “This action … will stand in as a celebration of the artists’ work and shed light on the many harms the museum continues to enact on these artists and the community.”

Cobb is an interdisciplinary artist and associate professor at Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she has taught since 1992. When Cobb asked the museum on Aug. 20 to remove and return her installation, “Seeking,” she wrote, “I believe that my work is not safe nor suitably seen.”  

“I was honored to have been among 23 remarkable artists — black women, femmes & GNC (gender-nonconforming) in this year’s Triennial, curated by Fatima Laster,” Cobb wrote. “I am distressed about its undoing in the face of inept direction,” as well as inadequate communication, poor care and a lack of programming around the exhibition.

Sunday’s action is a precursor to another event, “Artist’s Night” on Oct. 28, billed as an alternative to MMoCA’s Gallery Night on Nov. 4. Communication, an art space on Madison’s east side, is boycotting Gallery Night in solidarity with the artists of the Wisconsin Triennial.

The 2022 Triennial at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St., comes down this weekend. Only seven artists out of 23 remain in the show. 

Guest curated by Milwaukee gallerist Fatima Laster, “Ain’t I A Woman?” was designed to honor Black women and nonbinary Wisconsin artists. Many had begun pulling their work from the exhibition well before a collective of those artists published an open letter to MMoCA in August.

The letter described repeated failures by the museum to protect the artists and their art, including the June defacement of an installation by Madison artist Lilada Gee. The collective has called for the resignation of museum director Christina Brungardt, as well as financial restitution and protection against retaliation for museum staff.

Now, as the show nears its close, artists have continued to pull their work. Some who were reluctant to go on the record are now more openly speaking to media, and sharing their experiences at events like Black Women Artists Speak, a panel that the museum was at one point meant to host. (The city moved the panel to Madison College’s South campus.)

Some left their work in the show until recently, while remaining critical of the museum’s actions.

“How can you not have programming for a six month show?” Triennial artist Rhonda Gatlin-Hayes asked in a September interview with The Daily Cardinal, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student newspaper. Gatlin-Hayes formally submitted a request to the museum to remove her artwork on Oct. 1.

“In spite of concerns for my work and the museum, I had decided to remain in the exhibition to uphold my end of the contract and because we deserve to be there,” Gatlin-Hayes wrote in an email. “In my opinion, it would be sensible for MMoCA to engage the Triennial artists to be accurate in understanding their truths while moving toward reconciliation.”

On Sept. 20, Charlotte Cummins moderated the Black Women Artists Speak panel at Madison College's Goodman South Campus. 

Emily Leach withdrew her work from the exhibition in late August and just received word that it was on its way to her. Leach, a 2019 UW-Madison graduate who now lives in Massachusetts, expects to receive her pieces this coming week.

Leach had a positive relationship with MMoCA going into the Triennial. She was friendly with former curators Leah Kolb and Mel Becker Solomon, and she liked how the exhibition was framed.

“Being an artist in Wisconsin is really challenging because of the limited opportunities for support,” Leach said. Wisconsin ranks 49th in funding for the arts.

“The aims of this exhibition — inviting an artist and curator from outside the museum, to focus on Black women and nonbinary artists, and for my work to be show in that context — felt like a rare opportunity, but also one that felt safe,” Leach said. “I was honored, at this point in my career, to have an open invitation to participate in something.”  

Even when Gee and Dupaty were denied entry to the museum by an Overture Center staffer in March, Leach said it “seemed like the museum was supporting restitution and response.”

“For a lot of artists in the show, it’s like … being a frog in a pot as it starts to boil,” Leach said.

Leach was among the artists who were frustrated with how their pieces were installed. One of her pieces, “Trace,” involves a smoke machine, a projector and graphite powder on the floor, which had been painted black. It was put in what had been a coat room, just off the museum lobby. 

“Graphite powder is incredibly slippery,” Leach said. “It’s a tripping hazard for sure … it would be impossible to see that there was graphite powder in the space, and that’s not what we had discussed.”

Leach went back and forth with the museum about how best to adjust the piece for safety, and eventually it was raised onto a platform. To her, this was not the fault of staff, but “the responsibility of direction and distribution of resources,” and it was disappointing.

“A lot of the work that was in the show is concerned with health, ancestry, vulnerability, Black women’s work, my family’s work,” Leach said. “It’s already incredibly laden. So it is an act of trust for me to show it. And that’s true for everyone’s work in the show.”

The 2022 Wisconsin Triennial, shown here in August, is set to run through Oct. 9 at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art at 227 State St. 

What’s left of the 2022 Triennial comes down on Sunday. What comes next? The museum has issued a statement about a “truth and reconciliation project” that launched last month, advised by board members Leslie Smith III and Chele Isaac. Another board member, Tina Virgil, “leads public information sharing.” The museum has hired a visual anthropologist, but has declined to clarify what that person's goals will be beyond a published statement. 

“The artist in residence will be looking toward the future and exploring ways to address institutional racism within MMoCA and root causes of this particular conflict,” the statement said.  “This will include examining current structural and governance issues and those which predate a majority of members of the current board and staff.”

The artist collective said Brungardt has not communicated with them, and published a series of clarifying questions on Instagram.

“Why is this project a reasonable substitute for our call for accountability, transparency, and amends?” they wrote. “A ‘visual anthropologist’ is not a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) consultant. An art project is not employment equity.”

The Fwd: truth statement by the artists has been interpreted as “inherently negative” because it’s critical, Leach said. But she insists it was “intended to be constructive, and precedent setting.” She hopes the museum will take the opportunity to respond compassionately and self-critically.

“I would have liked for my work to stand for itself and exist on its own merits, and I don’t have that opportunity because of this experience,” Leach said. “I don’t expect this conversation will end with the exhibition. Thinking about where we go from here seems necessary.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that Emily Leach requested the de-installation of her work in August, but has not yet received it.

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@captimes.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.

Food editor and arts reporter

Become a Cap Times member today and enjoy great benefits.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.