Location: Graham Auditorium
Registration is required.

Works of art created by artists with reputations for sexual misconduct or reflecting gender-based violence have challenged museums to confront questions about display, context, and transparency. Should the bad behavior of artists such as Pablo Picasso be separated from their art? What role should institutions have in communicating about abuse perpetrated by artists, and how can they best prepare visitors to view art that depicts gender-based violence? How should museums consider the perspective of survivors in the display of potentially triggering works? Join guest speakers Hannah Brancato, artist, activist, and co-founder of FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture; Ella Gonzalez, co-editor of Gender Violence, Art, and the Viewer: An Intervention; and Keonna Hendrick, Deputy Director of Learning and Social Impact at the Brooklyn Museum, in a conversation about these questions and more, moderated by journalist Christina Cauterucci.

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6 p.m.: Introductions
6:10 p.m.: Moderated Conversation
7 p.m.: Q&A Session
7:30 p.m.: Program ends

Depths of History is a program series that investigates and interrogates the problematic histories of museums and other institutions. This series reflects the Walters Art Museum’s commitment to making accessible the histories of its origins and the art that it stewards to ensure an environment of anti-racism, inclusivity, collaboration, and welcome for visitors, volunteers, and staff.

Available resources: Accessible Seating, Assistive Listening Devices, Sensory Kits
Accessibility resources and accommodations are available for programs and events. Please email [email protected] with questions and requests. We will make every effort to provide accommodations. Visit our accessibility web page for more information.

Photo credit (clockwise from top left): Ella Gonzalez; Hannah Brancato; Les Talusan; Danny Perez for Brooklyn Museum, 2023.

About the Guest Speakers

Hannah Brancato, MFA, is an artist and educator based in Baltimore. Hannah’s art practice is grounded in collective storytelling and creating public rituals to bring people’s stories together. She is co-founder of FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, an art/organizing collective that produced creative interventions to create a culture of consent. FORCE is best known for the Monument Quilt, a collection of 3,000 stories from survivors of sexual violence on quilt squares which toured the United States and Mexico in 50 public displays between 2013-2019, which culminated in a large-scale installation on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Brancato lectures and holds workshops related to her art practice and research about trauma-informed pedagogy. A professor of art since 2011, Brancato is a doctoral student in American Studies, where she is researching the role of art and material culture in anti-sexual violence movements, with a theoretical grounding in Indigenous Studies, Women of Color Feminisms, and Disability Studies.

Christina Cauterucci is a senior writer at Slate, where she covers politics and culture. She hosted Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs, season nine of Slate’s award-winning narrative history podcast, about a major California gay-rights battle in 1978. She also hosts Outward, a Slate podcast about queer life. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, and NPR. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Ella Gonzalez is a PhD candidate in History of Art at Johns Hopkins University where she is currently writing a dissertation on caryatids, or female architectural supports, in ancient Greece through a feminist lens. Ella was a 2023–2024 Fulbright Fellow in Athens, Greece. Additionally, she recently co-edited a volume titled Gender Violence, Art, and the Viewer: An Intervention (Pennsylvania State Press, 2024) with Cynthia S. Colburn and Ellen C. Caldwell.

Keonna Hendrick (she/her/they/them) is a cultural strategist, educator and author specializing in promoting inclusive and culturally responsive practices in art education. Hendrick’s writing has appeared in numerous publications including the Journal of Museum Education (2017), Multiculturalism in Art Museums Today (2014), and the Journal of Folklore and Education (2016). Keonna serves as Deputy Director of Learning and Social Impact at the Brooklyn Museum where she oversees the museum’s public programs, education, and community engagement initiatives. She is the recipient of the National Museum Education Art Educator Award from the National Art Education Association in 2019 for her dedication to equity-centered approaches to community engagement and institutional practices. She holds a BA in History and Studio Art from Wake Forest University and a MA in Arts Policy and Administration from the Ohio State University.