Kehinde Wiley's Anti-Confederate Memorial

THE NEW YORKER
By Kriston Capps

Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War,” which was recently installed in Richmond, Virginia, mimics Confederate monuments that were erected in the city during the rise of Jim Crow. Photograph by Steve Helber / AP / Shutterstock

In a rainy morning in December, Kehinde Wiley climbed onto a grandstand set up outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in Richmond, to unveil a statue. Wiley, an African-American artist, who is forty-two and short, wore black Converse sneakers and a suit patterned like stained glass, which set him apart from the local officials who preceded him onstage. “I think we all have to do a big bow and a ‘thank you’ to whatever powers brought us here today,” he said. The plaza of the museum, where the ceremony took place, faces the headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. [More]