You Say This Can't Really Be America (E)

You Say this Can’t Really be America takes a step back to view from a slight distance the political fray engendered by the race-charged politics of the last presidential election cycle. Nell Painter offers perspective to American liberals and moderates bemoaning the statements and actions of the political right. The drumbeat recitation of her text-based conceptual art challenges the idea that America has had “better times” with regard to racism and discrimination. Nell Painter is a renowned historian of the American South and Professor Emerita at Princeton University. Late in her teaching career, she returned to school to earn degrees in studio art. She might be seen as the wise figure who conducts the discourse in this suite of images.