While we look to artists to lead us to a better future, we must also look at ourselves.
The incomparable James Baldwin (54, 58, 60) said in 1963: “It is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime."
The time for American innocence has past, past time for indifferent callousness. Artists have been showing us the way. It’s time to heed them and the MacDowell community of artists who are continuing this work at this crucial time.
As shameful as it is to say, as a country we’ve been here before, as artists have been showing us for decades.
-- MacDowell Chair and Fellow Nell Painter (16, 19), artworks on this page selected by Nell