The Minneapolis Institute of Art won’t be taking a traveling Kehinde Wiley exhibition following public accusations of sexual assault against the artist that came out in late May, as first reported by Hyperallergic.
No public information was available about the exhibition, titled “An Archaeology of Silence,” coming from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, but a statement from Mia confirmed that it was being considered for 2025.
“Mia was considering taking the Kehinde Wiley exhibition, but as a result of these unfortunate allegations we will not be proceeding with this presentation,” the statement said. “The museum had not announced its presentation of the exhibition or specific presentation dates.”
Wiley, an internationally acclaimed artist best known for his 2018 portrait of President Barak Obama, has been accused of sexual assault by four men. The accusations began in a statement published on Instagram on May 19 by Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko, alleging that Wiley twice assaulted him during an event in Ghana in 2021. Wiley, who is an American artist of Nigerian descent, had been in attendance at a dinner held in his honor by Ghana’s Creative Art Council.
Awuah-Darko claimed that in the first assault he was “inappropriately groped,” and that the second assault was “much more severe and violent” but he did not go into details. He did state that “reporting this assault in a West African country like Ghana [where anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments are prevalent] would have been problematic at best — dangerous at worst.”
Since Awuah-Darko, three other men have stepped forward, accusing Wiley of sexual violence, including activist Derrick Ingram, United Kingdom-based artist Nathaniel Lloyd Richards and photographer Terrell Armistead. They have all made statements on Instagram.
Wiley has repeatedly denied the claims.
“It is disappointing that this social media-driven fabrication is distracting from the goal of the tour: shedding light on the inequities Black and Brown people face in our society,” Wiley said in a statement, provided to the Star Tribune. “These allegations are completely false, raising more questions about their credibility and motivation than there are facts supporting their authenticity.”
He also publicly stated on Instagram that his accuser’s “disturbing allegations are baseless and defamatory,” claiming that they had a one-time encounter that evening after flirting all night and that everything was consensual. Wiley’s post includes text message exchanges and information about what he said marked “the beginning of years of Joseph aggressively pursuing a relationship with me.”
Mia owns the Kehinde Wiley painting “Santos Dumont – The Father of Aviation II,” 2009 and had removed it from view six months ago. The removal had nothing to do with the sexual assault accusations.
Walker Art Center owns a Wiley work titled “Untitled” from the series “Passing/Posing,” 2003 that is not on view.
The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) in Florida and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha also have canceled or postponed upcoming Wiley exhibitions.
