Why Trump is targeting Smithsonian artworks and what they represent

Why Trump is targeting Smithsonian artworks and what they represent

US President Donald Trump has directed White House officials to scrutinize the Smithsonian Institution, months after signing an executive order to root out what he calls “anti-American ideology.” Last week, the administration published a list of specific artworks and exhibitions it claimed misrepresented US history or pushed divisive themes. The move signals a new front in Trump’s effort to shape what Americans see in public museums, the Washington Post reported.

The Immokalee Statue of Liberty

One of the targeted pieces is a papier-mâché Statue of Liberty created by farmworkers during a 2000 march for fair wages. With brown skin and a basket of tomatoes, the 10-foot-tall figure symbolized immigrant labour as central to American life. Artist Kat Rodriguez said she was not surprised to see the piece criticized, describing the review as an attempt to erase marginalized voices from the national story.

Border perspectives through art

Several works on the White House list deal with immigration. Felipe “Feggo” Galindo’s 4th of July From the South Border depicts a boy watching fireworks through an American-flag-shaped fence at the US-Mexico border. Galindo said the piece does not argue for “open borders” but reflects longing and exclusion. Rigoberto A. González’s Refugees Crossing the Border Wall Into South Texas portrays migrants with dignity and vulnerability, rejecting the image of invaders often invoked in political rhetoric.

Liberty reimagined

Amy Sherald’s portrait of trans musician Arewà Basit, titled Trans Forming Liberty, was also flagged by the White House. The image shows Basit posing improvisationally as the Statue of Liberty. For Sherald and Basit, the work expands the meaning of liberty to include those historically excluded. Critics in Trump’s camp called it divisive, but Basit said it offered validation: “We don’t need anyone else to validate ‘liberty and justice for all’—we can validate it for ourselves.”

Personal and political dreams

Yocelyn Riojas’s My Dreams Are Not Illegal, created in 2017 after the announcement that DACA would be phased out, depicts a young Afro-Latina woman surrounded by monarch butterflies. The piece spread widely online before being acquired for exhibition. Riojas has described it as a celebration of border culture and resilience. Similarly, Ayana V. Jackson’s exhibition From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya reimagined the Middle Passage through Afrofuturism, portraying an underwater world populated by the descendants of enslaved Africans. Trump officials dismissed it as “negative,” though Jackson saw it as a space of possibility born from trauma.

A portrait of Dr. Fauci

The list also included Hugo Crosthwaite’s animated portrait of Anthony Fauci, which depicts the infectious-disease expert alternately with devil horns and a crown. Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, the work reflects the polarization around Fauci during the coronavirus pandemic and references the politics of earlier public health crises. Crosthwaite said the piece warns of repeating mistakes if history is not viewed honestly.

Artists push back

The artists named by the White House argue that their works are not propaganda but reflections of America’s complexity. Many see the administration’s move as censorship aimed at narrowing the nation’s cultural narrative. “Taxpayer money should not be used for things that pit Americans against one another,” said a White House spokesperson. But for the artists, their works tell a broader story of who counts as American and whose struggles are remembered.