Turn the Volume Up! at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University highlights the activism of everyday people who have confronted injustice. The exhibition's name was inspired by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani quoting the Bronx rapper KRS-One's song "Turn the Volume Up" during his election-day victory speech.
Artists and Works on Display
Featuring work by artists such as Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, and the Guerrilla Girls, the show examines how protests and collective action can create and inspire social change. The exhibition includes pieces by Bruce Davidson, Ralph Gibson, Peter Williams, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Carol Summers, Spider Martin, and Lyle Ashton Harris.
Among the works are Bruce Davidson's "Time of Change" series from 1963-1965, Kara Walker's "Confederate Prisoners Being Conducted from Jonesborough to Atlanta" from the portfolio "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)" (2005), and Ralph Gibson's "American Gothic" from the portfolio "America: Now and Here" (2009).
Exhibition Dates and Curator
Curated by Briana Ellis-Gibbs, Turn the Volume Up! opens on 27 August and runs through 11 July 2027 at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
