A protracted-running artwork exhibition of political art work at East Tennessee State College (ETSU) was not invited to return to the college 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 beneath 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.
A gaggle of patrons on the 2024 Fletcher Exhibit (photograph courtesy the Dyer household)
People who spoke to conservative media stated the artworks espoused slightly than criticized hateful views, and in November 2024, elected Republican officers in Tennessee demanded that the art work 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 time, the present’s organizers realized that the college 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 means for individuals within the Appalachian area to “understand the concerns and worries of people internationally in social and politically engaged events.” Her son all the time 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 acquired a name from a employees member of the Reece Museum, she stated. She recalled being informed that the museum would now not host the exhibition as a result of the college’s “goals no longer coincided with our goals.” Barb stated she requested the museum for an evidence in writing, however by no means acquired one. The 2025 exhibition would have seemingly opened subsequent month.
“There’s a level of feeling betrayed by an entity that should have supported us, and Fletcher, and freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Carrie Dyer, Fletcher’s sister, informed Hyperallergic in a telephone name.
“The decision was made that the Reece would no longer be the host of the exhibition moving forward,” the Reece employees member stated in a response to Gibbs reviewed by Hyperallergic.
Media contacts for ETSU haven’t but responded to Hyperallergic’s requests for remark.
Fletcher Dyer (photograph courtesy the Dyer household)
Past their issues over what ETSU’s choice to now 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 faculty 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 ways, for me, it feels like Fletcher has died again, when the exhibit was stopped,” Carrie stated. “It felt like a second death for me.”
The household has not but discovered another venue for his or her exhibition, however is exploring choices for hold the present working.
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 still believe in the right to share those thoughts openly and not be murdered for them,” Carrie stated. The household condemned Kirk’s killing.
“Fletcher wouldn’t have been okay with what happened to him, even though they did everything they could to stop the exhibit,” Carrie stated.
The college has reportedly suspended two college 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.
Anderson-Turner’s “Treasonous Clowns” (2022) (photograph courtesy Patricia Anderson-Turner)
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 need to honor their son’s legacy.
He described the work he submitted over time 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 “Culture Crisis” (YEAR) within the final version examined “what is accepted and ignored in today’s so-called Black culture,” he defined.
Artist Patricia Anderson-Turner, who relies 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 line 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 revolt.
The Reece Museum had served because the occasion’s venue for 11 years. (photograph courtesy Meaghan Dee)
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 lost is another space, another community, another place for artists to connect and share work. We also lost some of our freedom of speech,” Dee stated. “I never thought the role of art was that everyone ‘liked’ it or that everyone ‘agrees’ with it. Good art often provokes discussion and is controversial.”
Artist Sue Coe, who has served as a decide for earlier iterations, stated the present was a chance to indicate work that won’t in any other case be uplifted within the conventional artwork world context.
“It means a lot to artists who struggle with so little support, because they are not for sale or valued in the corporate marketplace to see their work in a museum,” Coe stated.
“All the positive things that came from the Fletcher Exhibit cannot be cancelled by the turn of the tides,” Coe continued. “It was the perfect venue to honor Fletcher and his belief that art can help humanity.”
