Reinstate Ruth Stanford's installation at the Zuckerman Museum of Art.
Why is this important?
Dear President Daniel Papp,
As members of the metro Atlanta art community, we are dismayed and disappointed by the decision of Kennesaw State University President Daniel Papp to remove a commissioned artwork by Ruth Stanford from the inaugural exhibition of the university’s new Zuckerman Museum of Art, opening this evening, March 1 (VIP reception at 5:00 p.m., public opening at 6:30).
KSU is a state public institution with an educational mission that should promote dialogue about history and difficult subjects, not squelch First Amendment rights and artistic expression.
Stanford’s work eloquently and tactfully addresses a contentious time in Georgia’s history and KSU’s controversial acquisition of property once owned by author and lynching apologist Corra Harris. In her installation, Stanford explores the complexity of Harris’s views and literary works, which are both “poetic and beautiful,” as Stanford says, and a reflection of the time in which she lived.
The “celebratory” opening that President Papp purports to be protecting has already been ruined by his very action, which undermines the autonomy and curatorial integrity of the museum staff.
We respectfully request that the Zuckerman Museum be allowed to reinstall Stanford’s artwork and that President Papp issue an apology to the artist and art community.
