March 6, 2025 5:30pm 7:00pm
The Shape of Power Conversation with Monument Lab: Monumental Matters
Smithsonian American Art Museum
G Street Northwest &, 8th St NW, Washington, DC 20004

SAAM has partnered with Monument Lab for an engaging series of guided conversations about The Shape of Power exhibition. In each of the three events, Monument Lab curators Yolanda Wisher and Aubree Penney will focus on specific artworks to illustrate ideas and spark dialogue. This program will feature a discussion of how attitudes and understandings about race in the United States have influenced monument-making. Monument Lab will provide a toolkit for creative ways of looking at art and generating conversation around the exhibition. Space is limited, register today.

About the exhibition: The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s (SAAM) groundbreaking exhibition, The Shape of Power, featuring 82 artworks created between 1792 and 2023, examines for the first time the ways in which sculpture has shaped and reflected attitudes and understandings about race in the United States. Click here to learn more


Credits

  • Curatorial team: Yolanda Wisher and Aubree Penney
  • Monument Lab Team: Paul Farber, Bella Rodriguez, Dina Paola Rodriguez, Nico Rodriguez, Ashley Tyner
  • Design: Jonai Gibson-Selix
  • Documentation: Steve Weinik
  • Monument Lab Board of Directors: Lola Bakare (Secretary), Ellery Roberts Biddle, Amari Johnson, Monica O. Montgomery (Vice Chair), Stephan Nicoleau (Treasurer), Michelle Angela Ortiz, Samala, Kirk Savage, and Tiffany Tavarez (Chair)
  • Image: Nicholas Galanin, The Imaginary Indian (Totem Pole), 2016, wood, acrylic paint, and floral wallpaper, totem: Private collection, Bentonville, Arkansas