On one level, it’s thrilling to see that several Chicago folks made it into this year’s Whitney Biennial. Among them are Brendan Fernandes, whose practice is comprised of graceful negotiations between sculpture, ballet, and black history, and Derrick Woods-Morrow, a multimedia artist who frequently combs through memory and queer narratives. TL;DR: A few of the city’s queer artists of color received some of the international recognition they so deserve, in a major show curated by two women. It seems to mathematically add up to progress.
“I’d spent some time really thinking about ways in which to support people at the Whitney who had signed the letter, which gave me so much hope,” Rakowitz told me in a phone interview. He was initially commissioned by the Whitney to create new work examining cultural sites destroyed in the Iraq War. “I was very moved; it was a new benchmark for how we could visualize potential changes in the institutional network of our field and its ecosystems.”
“They seemed surprised at the suggestion and said they still wanted the show to happen,” he said. In turn, the curators said they wouldn’t stop anyone from making work that critiqued the issue of Sanders and the Whitney.
The Whitney declined to comment. v
