This post was originally published on artnews.com
A billboard in Montgomery, Alabama, by the artist group For Freedoms was removed after an outcry that spurred city leadership to investigate the piece.
The billboard was mounted through For Freedoms, an artist-led organization cofounded by Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman that has historically placed politically charged billboards across the nation during election cycles, including the 2024 one. For Freedoms has in the past brought on outside artists to do these billboards, which have addressed notions of freedom and democracy.
“We are dismayed but not surprised by the removal of this artwork,” Gottesman said in a statement to ARTnews. “This clear act of censorship underscores the urgency of For Freedoms’ mission to promote free speech and creative expression. One of our missions is to be visionary, not reactionary. This work was created nine years ago, in collaboration with artist Spider Martin, and juxtaposes his historic image with a political slogan that we hope will spark conversation, reflection and deeper thinking.
“We can disagree and dislike what others say but still support their rights to express it,” Gottesman continued. “Part of what makes America great is the freedom to express ourselves, we see this censorship as antithetical to this core freedom and to our mission as an organization.”
The billboard featured a Spider Martin photograph of state troopers staring down Black protestors during a legendary 1965 demonstration in Selma known as Bloody Sunday, during which police officers violently confronted those in attendance. Over that picture, For Freedoms placed text reading MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, a reference to a slogan associated with President Donald Trump.
For Freedoms’s billboards have typically noted that they are paid for by the organization. This one only featured the For Freedoms logo alongside the name of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, which is mounting an exhibition of Martin’s photography in February.
Thomas’s name was not advertised on the mural, but in a Facebook comment, the museum credited the artist with doing the work. A For Freedoms spokesperson characterized the billboard as being by the organization, not Thomas solo, and said it was a collaboration with Martin’s estate.
“The phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ is used intentionally to invite reflection on the complexities of American identity and the ongoing struggle for justice, as seen in the Civil Rights Movement,” the museum wrote in response to one Facebook user. “The image featured on the billboard, like the powerful work by photographer Spider Martin, serves as a visual anchor to encourage dialogue around the connections between past and present political realities. This piece is designed to spark critical discussions on how art, history, and political commentary intersect, and how images of the Civil Rights era continue to resonate in contemporary society.”
In the days before that comment, pictures of the billboard began to circulate on social media, with one X post by AF Post, an account that dedicates itself to disseminating news “from an America First perspective,” garnering more than 2,000 likes. 1819 News, an Alabama-based organization, has published several articles about the billboard, including one on Wednesday in which a journalist claimed that the museum’s board “violated” an open meeting policy by barring him from entering a discussion about the work.
Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement that he had requested the removal after asking the museum whether it had bought the work. He claimed in his statement that the museum had done so, moving him to seek the removal “without delay.”
“The legacy of Bloody Sunday represents a pivotal moment in our nation’s fight for equality and justice,” Reed said. “We must be extremely mindful of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they risk being perceived as politically charged. Our history deserves to be treated with the utmost respect and care, ensuring it unites rather than divides us as a community.”
Austin Barranco, a board member at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, called into a local radio show to say that the trustees “did not approve” the billboard. “The billboard, out of context, is a huge problem,” he said, “and obviously, leadership at the museum saw that and did damage control.” Although he called Martin’s photography “powerful and moving” when seen within institutional walls, Barranco also said that the pictures, when paired with a MAGA slogan, could be read as “divisive.”
Barranco also noted that the museum had been without a permanent director for two years, which had weakened leadership. The museum did not respond to ARTnews’s request for comment.
The billboard was initially produced in 2016, the year that it was exhibited in Pearl, Mississippi. Local politicians also sought to have the billboard removed back then. In response to that controversy, Thomas told Alabama.com that the piece was intentionally meant to raise questions. “When was this time you want the country to go back to?” he asked. “There’s never been a greater time for more citizens than right now.”
This year, with a new election cycle featuring Trump as a candidate looming, For Freedoms put out a book in which Thomas revisited the billboard. “When questioning the phrase ‘Make America Great Again,’ we wondered if there had been a moment in history that was ‘greater’ for Americans than the present,” he said in an interview published in that book. “The only moment that comes close is the Civil Rights Era. During that period, millions of Americans from diverse backgrounds and beliefs came together to challenge their governments, their laws, their traditions and themselves. In doing so they were able to make huge strides toward manifesting a ‘more perfect Union.’”