Amy Sherald, the Georgia-born artist from Columbus who earned national recognition for her 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama, has canceled her September solo exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., citing censorship concerns.
Sherald, who has been a featured artist at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art both in a solo show in 2022 and in a group exhibition from 2024-2025 , said in a statement her decision to pull the show came after she was told her painting of a transgender Statue of Liberty could potentially be censored from her show of 50 artworks titled “Amy Sherald: American Sublime.”
