MoMA Apologizes for Kicking Out Black Artist From Installation

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has apologized to British-Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist Heather Agyepong after security asked her to leave an exhibition. The artist posted about her experience visiting the installation Black Power Naps on Twitter on Saturday, March 25, calling out the irony that she was asked to leave an installation created to encourage Black people to rest. 

According to Agyepong’s post, the conflict began when she noticed a White woman loudly laughing in the MoMA Education Department’s second-floor Creativity Lab. Agyepong says she approached the woman and said, “I think this space is centered around Black People.” The woman reportedly started screaming that Agyepong “was aggressive” and “should be kicked out” before complaining to a security guard who forced Agyepong to leave. (Agyepong has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.)

On view at MoMA through May 14, artists Navild Acosta and Fannie Sosa’s Black Power Naps intends to reclaim the concept of rest and repose for Black people. Studies show that Black Americans get less sleep than White Americans and that the sleep Black Americans manage to get is not as restful. The sculptural installation explores reparations by encouraging Black people to interact with the imaginative space and use its Traveling Biblioteca library to learn about “the politics of rest and refusal.” 

In a statement provided to The Art Newspaper, the museum said in the future it plans to work with the installation’s organizers to “protect the experiences of Black visitors and visitors from Indigenous communities and communities of color.”