{"id":2020760,"date":"2023-09-03T10:26:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-03T14:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/award-winning-artist-loses-huge-commission-to-sculpt-harriet-tubman-over-color-of-his-skin\/"},"modified":"2023-09-03T10:27:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T14:27:27","slug":"award-winning-artist-loses-huge-commission-to-sculpt-harriet-tubman-over-color-of-his-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/award-winning-artist-loses-huge-commission-to-sculpt-harriet-tubman-over-color-of-his-skin\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist loses Tubman commission due to skin color."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faward-winning-artist-loses-huge-commission-to-sculpt-harriet-tubman-over-color-of-his-skin%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2020760&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Award-Winning Artist Loses Huge \u200dCommission to Sculpt Harriet Tubman Over Color of\u2064 His Skin<\/h2>\n<p>After a white sculptor\u2019s work depicting Harriet Tubman received rave reviews, Philadelphia\u200b hired him to do \u200banother \u2064piece\u2064 that would be on permanent display.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2063after complaints \u200cthat the artist should not\u2064 be white, Wesley Wofford was given the boot, according \u200dto <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/30\/arts\/design\/tubman-sculpture-philadelphia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The New York Times<\/a>, which noted that \u2063the five designs \u200ccurrently being\u2063 considered instead of his are all\u200b the \u200cworks of\u200b black artists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArt is supposed to \u2063be a universal language\u2063 that\u200b transcends gender, race and culture,\u201d Wofford said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, Wofford designed a statue \u2063of Tubman after getting a private commission.\u2063 He made a traveling\u200c version of the statue called \u201cJourney to\u2064 Freedom.\u201d \u2063The statue made it to 17 cities and was in Philadelphia from January to March\u200c 2022.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Wesley Wofford\u2019s \u201cHarriet Tubman \u2013\u2062 The Journey to Freedom\u201d, originally displayed at the Equal Justice Initiative\u200c Legacy Pavilion \u200cin Montgomery, Alabama, in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>(pic is from\u2064 Philadelphia) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sbBo6q5GoE\">pic.twitter.com\/sbBo6q5GoE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Trip Micali (@trip_micali) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trip_micali\/status\/1614744364621926400?\">January 15, \u200d2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The statue was \u2063a hit, noted Kelly Lee, executive director of the city\u2019s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.<\/p>\n<p>Unable to buy the traveling statue, the city wanted to pay Wofford $500,000 to design\u2064 a permanent Tubman statue.<\/p>\n<p>Then came public meetings \u200bwhere the\u2064 choice of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/leftist-city-handing-cash-payments-based-race-white-residents-openly-discriminated\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">white man<\/a> was denounced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs an artist, it\u2019s hurtful, and it\u200c is traumatizing,\u201d textile artist \u200cDee Jones said in June\u200b 2022, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artforum.com\/news\/philadelphia-courts-controversy-with-commission-of-harriet-tubman-statue-88796\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Art Forum<\/a>. \u201cIf it was an open call and Wesley \u200dwas chosen, it would be fine. But because the process wasn\u2019t open,\u2064 that\u2019s the big issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wofford said he was marginalized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t have much of a voice,\u201d he said, according to the Times. \u201cNo one wanted to hear from me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some \u2063of Tubman\u2019s descendants support him, putting out \u2064a statement that \u200dsaid, \u201cHarriet \u2062Tubman worked with \u200bpeople of all races who were like-minded, and Mr. Wofford is like-minded. Harriet Tubman stood for people of\u2064 all\u200b races.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But in\u2064 the end, Wofford\u2019s commission was\u200d revoked, and in August\u200d 2022, the\u200b city issued an open\u2063 call.<\/p>\n<p>Wofford \u2062did not enter but \u2064said he would provide a larger\u200d version \u200cof \u201cJourney to Freedom\u201d at\u200d cost if no other option worked.<\/p>\n<p>Lee insisted race was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/historic-churchs-woke-new-spin-lent-includes-fasting-whiteness-race-based-liturgy-overhaul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">not\u200b a criterion<\/a> for making it to the semifinals. The public\u2063 weighed in voting that ended Friday. The final\u2064 decision will come in October.<\/p>\n<p>Tanda \u2062Francis, one of the \u2062finalists, \u200csaid it was \u2063only right a\u200b black\u200c person gets the commission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s an ancestor,\u201d Francis said. \u201cWe should be telling our story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wofford told \u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/us\/2023\/09\/02\/smr-tubman-statue-controversy.cnn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN<\/a> that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/us-school-district-ran-equity-dashboard-tracking-students-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">race<\/a> should \u2063not be an exclusionary factor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe task\u2064 ahead of\u2064 us regarding under representation in public spaces \u2064is so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fire-fauci-new-study-finds-closing-schools-in-response-to-covid-19-delayed-herd-immunity-and-will-increase-overall-deaths\/\" title=\"FIRE FAUCI: New Study Finds Closing Schools In Response to COVID-19 Delayed Herd Immunity and Will Increase Overall Deaths\">huge<\/a> \u200dthat every living, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/like-we-were-nothing-animated-show-creators-slam-hbo-max-for-abruptly-pulling-more-than-30-titles\/\" title=\"\u2018Like We Were Nothing\u2019: Animated Show Creators Slam HBO Max For Abruptly Pulling More Than 30 Titles\">working artist<\/a> needs to be working on it. It is not that only black artists should be \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/award-winning-artist-loses-huge-commission-to-sculpt-harriet-tubman-over-color-of-his-skin\/\" title=\"Artist loses Tubman commission due to skin color.\">sculpting black\u2063 subjects<\/a>. I think that we all need to get there together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/award-winning-artist-loses-huge-commission-sculpt-harriet-tubman-color-skin\/\">Award-Winning \u200bArtist Loses \u200cHuge Commission to Sculpt Harriet Tubman Over Color of His Skin<\/a> \u200dappeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western \u200dJournal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After receiving praise for his sculpture of Harriet Tubman, a white sculptor was commissioned by Philadelphia for a permanent display. However, due to objections about his race, Wesley Wofford was removed from the project. The New York Times reported that five alternative designs are now under consideration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":2020761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}