Artists to Ivanka: Take Our Work Off Your Walls
Ivanka Trump announces the release of her book, “Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success.” Image by YouTube
(JTA) — Some artists whose works are on display at Ivanka Trump’s home are asking her to remove them to protest what they called the “racism” of her father, President-elect Donald Trump.
Visual artists Jonathan Horowitz and Alex Da Corte joined with curator Alison Gingeras, dealer Bill Powers and several others on the art scene in forming a group they call Halt Action. Some of the members saw their works on display in photographs of the New York home of Ivanka Trump, who underwent an Orthodox conversion to Judaism six years ago.
“Dear @Ivankatrump please get my work off of your walls. I am embarrassed to be seen with you,” Da Corte, of Philadelphia, wrote on Instagram. Breitbart, the right-leaning news and opinion site, reported on the initiative Thursday.
Members of Halt Action started an Instagram campaign called “Dear Ivanka” to protest President-elect Donald Trump through his daughter, Fox News reported.
The group’s website includes a statement that mentions Ivanka Trump and the president-elect’s staffers by name.
“Dear Ivanka, we need to talk about your dad. Racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and homophobia are not acceptable anywhere — least of all in the White House,” the message begins.
Donald Trump, who during the presidential campaign suggested that Mexico is sending rapists and criminals to the United States and called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, has rejected accusations of racism.
Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, dismissed claims that Donald Trump is anti-Semitic or that he endorsed anti-Semites. Kushner grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family.
Such claims were directed at Trump especially following the publication of an online banner slamming Hillary Clinton’s alleged corruption, which Donald Trump shared on social networks earlier this year during the campaign. The banner featured a Star of David.
“Through her collecting and social appearances, Ivanka Trump belonged to a certain degree to our world,” Gingeras told Bloomberg.
Powers told the news agency: “I think there are a lot of artists that are uncomfortable now being incorporated, or leveraged, as part of the Ivanka Trump brand.”
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