This week, “It’s Mourning in America,†a billboard designed by artist Jim Goldberg is being installed on Cornhusker Highway.
A twist on President Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America,†the billboard uses a Goldberg photograph of a shirtless laborer with his hammer nearby between curtains, a commentary on the plight of American workers from an artist known for his long-term collaborations, like “Rich and Poor,†in which he works with neglected, ignored communities.
“My only agenda,†Goldberg said in the British Journal of Photography, “is to bring attention to otherwise ignored and shunned lives.â€
The billboard at 4925 Cornhusker Highway (on the south side of the road, facing west) is one of dozens of billboards going up simultaneously across the country, the most widely visible element in the “50 State Initiative,†the largest public art project in U.S.
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Organized by For Freedoms, a federation founded by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman with a mission to “use art as a vehicle to build greater participation in American Democracy," the initiative includes exhibitions, town hall meetings and the billboards in all 50 states.
Two “For Freedoms†exhibitions are now on view in Lincoln.
At the Sheldon Museum of Art, “For Freedoms: In the future days ...†brings together objects from the museum’s collection and borrowed from local collectors that can be seen as relating to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 “Four Freedoms†speech.
That articulation of four basic human freedoms — freedom of speech and expression; freedom of every person to worship God in his own way; freedom from want; and freedom from fear — inspired a series of now-iconic paintings by Norman Rockwell. And the Rockwell paintings and FDR’s speech inspired the creation of the For Freedoms Federation.
The Sheldon exhibition, aimed at generating civic discussion around the artwork, includes For Freedoms founder Thomas’ provocative “Priceless #1,†a photograph taken at a funeral overlaid with text about guns and bullets that draws on MasterCard commercials, along with a “Wrapped Payphone†from Christo, pieces by Jenny Holzer and Carrie Mae Weems, and Andy Warhol’s screenprint “Birmingham Race Riot.â€
“For Freedoms: In the future days ...†will be on view through Dec. 31 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln museum at 12th and R streets.
Also, Workspace Gallery is showing “Echo,†a series of photographs by fourth-generation Japanese American photographer Kevin Miyazaki, who explores his heritage in diptych photographs and a set of real estate sales catalog-inspired views of buildings from the internment camps where Japanese-Americans were imprisoned during World War II. “Echo†is on view at the gallery in the Sawmill Building, 440 N. Eighth St., through Oct. 30.
The official “on view†date for “It’s Mourning in America†is Saturday for a reason. It’s exactly a month before the November elections.
Photographers at Sheldon Monday
Photographers John Divola and Anthony Hernandez, who share an interest in depicting remote and abandoned spaces in pursuit of the contemporary landscape, will present a public conversation, moderated by Joslyn Art Museum Chief Curator Toby Jurovics, at 6 p.m. Monday at Sheldon.
Works by Divola and Hernandez are on view in the Sheldon exhibition “Approaching Landscape,†and a photo by Hernandez is included in “For Freedoms: In the future days ...â€
Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSWolgamott.
L. Kent Wolgamott
Entertainment reporter/columnist
