Teen artists portrayed their lives -- some adults didn't want to see the full picture [View all]

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/28/nx-s1-5463593/teen-art-smithsonian-folklife-festival

At this year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival, high school students created work in real time. Their space on the National Mall included an installation of a school bathroom where anyone could write on the stalls and a mural depicting a range of issues "from the stresses of college acceptance to protests to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic to self-image," said 17-year-old artist Flair Doherty.

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Flair Doherty said a Smithsonian staff member approached her and the other teen artists and told them she believed the "Free Palestine" slogan was "antisemitic and hateful." Doherty, who is Jewish, said she told her she disagreed, "We talked for maybe three minutes and did not really get anywhere."

"We went over the next day and it was completely covered in tarps," said 18-year-old artist Léda Pelton, who had not yet finished her section of the mural about cars and college acceptance.

Pelton said Smithsonian officials told them they covered it up because they were "afraid that somebody was going to walk by and see 'Free Palestine' on our mural and get mad and hurt us. And I'm like, 'maybe we are not the problem in that situation.'"