A powerful exhibition featuring artworks by censored artists has opened in New York City, serving as a stark warning about the deteriorating state of artistic freedom in America. The show, titled "Don't Look Now: A Defense of Free Expression," is currently running through October 25 at Nathalie Karg Gallery in Lower Manhattan, presenting works by artists who have experienced direct censorship and suppression.
Organized by the nonprofit Art at a Time Like This, co-founded by curator Barbara Pollack, the exhibition displays artworks that have been thrust into national conversations about the limits of free speech protections. Unlike typical gallery shows, none of the pieces are for sale – instead, they represent a growing collection of works that have faced removal, cancellation, or other forms of institutional suppression.
The exhibition addresses what Pollack describes as an increasing pattern of censorship affecting artists across the country. Many of the featured cases stem from President Trump's crackdown on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs and rising anti-Palestine sentiment in cultural institutions. Pollack also warns that some organizations are engaging in self-censorship, potentially due to fears of losing funding from entities like the National Endowment for the Arts.
Among the most prominent works on display is Danielle SeeWalker's "G is for Genocide" (2024), a painting that sparked controversy when the town of Vail, Colorado, revoked her artist residency last year. The American Civil Liberties Union intervened on SeeWalker's behalf, filing a free speech lawsuit against the municipality that was eventually settled through negotiations.
The exhibition also features a reproduction of Trinidadian artist Andil Gosine's altered childhood photograph "Magna Carta" (2025). Originally intended as a large-scale banner for an exhibition exploring Caribbean sexuality, the work was left without a venue when the Art Museum of the Americas canceled Gosine's curated show earlier this year without providing an explanation. Documents reviewed by Hyperallergic suggested that the U.S. government had withdrawn funding from another Caribbean exhibition at the museum after it was designated as a DEI program.
Reflecting on his experience, Gosine expressed mixed feelings about his inclusion in the New York show. While he found another venue in Toronto for a replacement exhibition that opened the same night, he told Hyperallergic that "nothing feels triumphant about it." He described how the low-quality reproduction of his work, reduced to a fraction of its original size and impact, symbolizes how art becomes "a footnote" in politically urgent stories rather than being allowed to fulfill its creative intention.
Upstairs in the gallery hangs Yvonne Iten-Scott's quilt "Origin" (2023), a work resembling female anatomy that was excluded from a traveling show organized by the American Quilters Society. The organization reportedly removed the piece over concerns that it could be considered controversial. Iten-Scott expressed honor at being included in the exhibition, stating that she feels "a sense of validation" seeing her work displayed alongside other artists who have faced similar experiences.
Other significant works in the exhibition include Khánh Nguyên Hoàng Vũ's "How we live like water" (2024), which pictorially represents the phrase "from the river to the sea." This piece was removed from a Walgreens window display in Miami Beach by the local nonprofit Oolite Arts. The show also features a sculpture by Margarita Cabrera, who withdrew from a Smithsonian symposium citing censorship concerns, and a poster by Shepard Fairey that became the subject of a free speech lawsuit for its interrogation of power abuses.
Evan Apodaca's video artwork "Monumental Interventions" (2023) rounds out the exhibition, representing another case of alleged censorship after it was removed from San Diego Airport, reportedly for criticizing the U.S. military. Each work comes with documentation explaining the artist's story and allegations of censorship, ranging from social media takedowns to the cancellation of entire residencies and exhibition programs.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) assisted in identifying many of the censorship cases featured in the exhibition. Elizabeth Larrison, who leads NCAC's Arts and Culture Advocacy Program, participated in a panel event accompanying the show. She emphasized that much of the organization's work defending artistic freedom typically occurs out of public view, making exhibitions like this valuable for bringing visibility to the "often insidious ways in which censorship threatens our democracy."
Curator Barbara Pollack draws parallels between the current situation and historical patterns of authoritarian control, comparing artists to the proverbial canary in a coal mine. "It is not surprising that [in] authoritarian countries, including the United States – one of the first things they crack down on is free expression," Pollack explained. She argues that artists are particularly targeted because they "get to the heart of the intersection between feelings and facts and make people move to take action or feel like they're not alone in their feelings."
The exhibition's central message emphasizes the importance of experiencing artworks directly rather than only through news coverage. As Pollack noted, "A one-on-one experience with an artwork gives you an entirely different feeling about the artist, their intentions, and the quality and their craftsmanship, than a photo in a news story." All works in the exhibition are on loan and will be returned to the artists when the show concludes, underscoring their role as testimonies to the current challenges facing artistic expression in America.
