John was commissioned to create a mural based on Anishinaabe creation stories featuring Sky Woman, Thunderbird, and Nanaboozhoo. However, while laying down a preparatory “doodle grid,” John embedded phrases such as “Feed Gaza,” “Free the Land,” and “From the River to the Sea,” along with symbols like olive branches, watermelons, and doves.
Although John said the underpainting would have been covered by the final design, the museum viewed the additions as a violation of their contract. The board terminated John’s agreement and had the mural whitewashed before completion.
In a statement to Native News Online, the museum’s board said its decision was not driven by outside complaints or funding threats.
“The visuals on our building were not part of the approved design for the commissioned mural,” the museum board said. “The artist was contracted to create a work reflecting the cultural elements of Indigenous communities of the Great Lakes region. The imagery that appeared on August 7th was neither submitted for review nor authorized by the museum and did not align with the agreed scope. We made the immediate decision to cover the imagery and end our agreement with the artist.”
When asked whether safety concerns factored into the temporary closure, the board acknowledged they had seen “disturbing social media posts” and said staff well-being was a factor in shutting down temporarily. Still, they maintained that the choice to terminate John’s contract was an internal decision made “as soon as we became aware of the discrepancy,” not one influenced by complaints or external pressure.
John, who had been promised $24 an hour, said they were never paid and felt silenced and betrayed by the decision.
“I was betrayed and abandoned by an institution that censored, removed, and silenced the call for freedom to the Palestinian people,” John told Native News Online, adding that many Native people in Chicago view Palestinians as fellow Indigenous peoples resisting colonial oppression.
The museum closed its doors from August 11–16, citing staff safety concerns.
This follows another incident of a Native artist expressing support for Palestine having a contract for mural work canceled.
Last year, Lakota artist Danielle SeeWalker had a residency in Vail, Colorado, canceled after the town deemed her recent painting, “G is for Genocide,” “too political.” Like John, SeeWalker was denied dialogue despite having already signed a contract and planned community programming. The ACLU sued the city of behalf of Seewalker, and the lawsuit was settled last month.
Both artists see the experience as part of a larger pattern of suppression.
“I can’t help but take this personally as silencing not only an artist, but a person of color,” SeeWalker said in a statement. “This piece of artwork has nothing to do with the Town of Vail. It had never been brought to the Town of Vail’s attention.”
