An extended-running artwork exhibition of political paintings at East Tennessee State College (ETSU) was not invited to return to the varsity this yr after a wave of right-wing backlash, together with from a Tennessee chapter of Turning Level USA.
The Fletcher Exhibit of Social and Politically Engaged Artwork, held yearly at ETSU’s Reece Museum since 2013, got here below intense scrutiny from conservatives throughout and after the November 2024 presidential election. The present has been organized by the household of Fletcher Dyer, who was an artwork scholar at ETSU when he died in a tragic accident in 2009, for over a decade.
Months earlier than the assassination of Turning Level USA founder Charlie Kirk, the 2024 iteration of the Fletcher Exhibit triggered condemnation from the group’s ETSU chapter for artworks that criticized conservative figures. One work that included Kirk’s likeness in a collage criticizing right-wing figures and hate symbols was referred to as out in nationwide conservative information retailers final November. One other work, which depicted Mitch McConnell towards a background of swastika symbols that developed into crosses, was printed on the conservative website Campus Reform.
People who spoke to conservative media stated the artworks espoused fairly than criticized hateful views, and in November 2024, elected Republican officers in Tennessee demanded that the paintings be faraway from the general public college. After a torrent of native and nationwide consideration, the college started asking guests to signal a legal responsibility waiver to view the exhibition. This summer season, the present’s organizers discovered that the varsity wouldn’t host its future iterations.
The Dyer household rejects the media characterization of their present as hateful. In a telephone name with Hyperallergic, Barb Dyer, Fletcher Dyer’s mom, described the exhibition as a manner for folks within the Appalachian area to “perceive the considerations and worries of individuals internationally in social and politically engaged occasions.” Her son at all times believed within the significance of debate, free speech, and publicly expressing one’s feelings, Barb stated.
In February, months after the exhibition closed, Barb Dyer obtained a name from a workers member of the Reece Museum, she stated. She recalled being informed that the museum would not host the exhibition as a result of the college’s “targets not coincided with our targets.” Barb stated she requested the museum for a proof in writing, however by no means obtained one. The 2025 exhibition would have doubtless opened subsequent month.
“There’s a degree of feeling betrayed by an entity that ought to have supported us, and Fletcher, and freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Carrie Dyer, Fletcher’s sister, informed Hyperallergic in a telephone name.
Over the summer season, Joel Gibbs, the artist who created “Evolution” (2024), the paintings that includes Mitch McConnell that was focused by conservatives, requested a workers member on the Reece Museum through electronic mail whether or not there can be a Fletcher Exhibit this yr.
“The choice was made that the Reece would not be the host of the exhibition shifting ahead,” the Reece workers member stated in a response to Gibbs reviewed by Hyperallergic.
Gibbs informed Hyperallergic in an electronic mail that he sees the varsity’s resolution to cease internet hosting the exhibition as a “symptom” of college capitulation to calls for of Trump-aligned officers.
Media contacts for ETSU haven’t but responded to Hyperallergic’s requests for remark.
Past their considerations over what ETSU’s resolution to not maintain the exhibition means for freedom of expression, Barb and Carrie Dyer informed Hyperallergic that the establishment’s rejection of the present was deeply private for them. Fletcher was in his final semester of school at ETSU when he died; Barb and Carrie graduated from the establishment, and Wayne, Fletcher’s father, is a professor emeritus of the college. The household additionally established the Fletcher H. Dyer Memorial Scholarship, awarded yearly to an ETSU artwork and design scholar.
“In some methods, for me, it looks like Fletcher has died once more, when the exhibit was stopped,” Carrie stated. “It felt like a second loss of life for me.”
The household has not but discovered another venue for his or her exhibition, however is exploring choices for learn how to hold the present operating.
ETSU’s Chapter of Turning Level USA was one of many first teams to criticize the present, condemning a portrayal of Kirk within the exhibition on its Instagram account final November.
“We nonetheless consider in the fitting to share these ideas overtly and never be murdered for them,” Carrie stated. The household condemned Kirk’s killing.
“Fletcher wouldn’t have been okay with what occurred to him, though they did every little thing they may to cease the exhibit,” Carrie stated.
The college has reportedly suspended two school members over social media posts associated to Kirk. ETSU’s Turning Level USA chapter didn’t reply to a direct message to their Instagram account requesting remark. Hyperallergic has contacted the nationwide Turning Level USA group for remark.
Hyperallergic spoke to a number of artists and jurors from throughout the nation who participated within the present, and who famous that the exhibition was a chance to show thought-provoking work. Every spoke glowingly of the Dyer household’s want to honor their son’s legacy.
One artist, Jason Flack, who is predicated in Johnson Metropolis, the place the college is positioned, lamented the present’s discontinuation in an electronic mail to Hyperallergic. Flack exhibited work within the present for 4 years and knew Fletcher personally. The lack of the exhibition was “an enormous deal,” he stated, describing the native artwork scene as “very underground, scattered, typically poorly promoted, and simply dismissed.” The Fletcher Exhibit had introduced collectively artists of all academic backgrounds and expertise ranges, Flack stated.
He described the work he submitted through the years as holding a “mirror to society,” reflecting the areas he was raised in, which he described as “the poor and the Black and brown neighborhoods of my hometown.” Flack’s two-part portray “Tradition Disaster” (YEAR) within the final version examined “what’s accepted and ignored in at present’s so-called Black tradition,” he defined.
Artist Patricia Anderson-Turner, who is predicated in Florida, participated within the exhibition for 10 years. In a telephone name, Anderson-Turner described the occasion to Hyperallergic as intimate and community-forming. Final yr, Anderson-Turner exhibited a piece commenting on the destruction of Palestinian olive bushes as a metaphor for Israel’s “obliteration of Palestine,” in accordance with an artist assertion. Her works from prior years addressed the 1911 abduction and lynching of Laura and L.D. Nelson, and one other contended with the January 6 rebel.
Meghan Dee, the juror of the scrutinized 2024 version, informed Hyperallergic that the present had beforehand introduced politically charged materials, however this was the primary yr that it sparked such an outcry.
“What we misplaced is one other area, one other neighborhood, one other place for artists to attach and share work. We additionally misplaced a few of our freedom of speech,” Dee stated. “I by no means thought the position of artwork was that everybody ‘appreciated’ it or that everybody ‘agrees’ with it. Good artwork typically provokes dialogue and is controversial.”
Artist Sue Coe, who has served as a decide for earlier iterations, stated the present was a chance to point out work that will not in any other case be uplifted within the conventional artwork world context.
“It means quite a bit to artists who wrestle with so little assist, as a result of they don’t seem to be on the market or valued within the company market to see their work in a museum,” Coe stated.
“All of the optimistic issues that got here from the Fletcher Exhibit can’t be cancelled by the flip of the tides,” Coe continued. “It was the right venue to honor Fletcher and his perception that artwork might help humanity.”
