The latest ‘merch’ from the Los Angeles County of Museum, the erstwhile color-blind LACMA, got our attention. What on earth is BLACMA? Let’s look into the teeshirt’s backstory.
This shirt was made to commemorate the establishment of LACMA’s Black/African American Employee Resource Group (BLACMA) in 2021.
This internal group of employees supports each other personally and professionally through meetings and collaboration. The membership works across the museum to share projects, offer feedback, and foster opportunities for professional development.
BLACMA advocates for inclusive work environments and strives to be a resource for current and future museum professionals, at LACMA and beyond.
It’s historic! Dates all the way back to 2021. But, seriously: Is this takeover of the museum’s iconic logo (its clever underlined L and A, calls out Los Angeles, back when that meant all of Los Angeles) an act of Black pride? Black power? or Black separatism?
What’s the direction here? Some feel it is backward. To others, the idea of ‘color-blind’ did not work out well enough for Black people. So this shirt reminds us to continue to strive for arts-world equity.
What do you think? A harmless teeshirt? A great gift for under the tree? One small step for mankind? Or, a backward lurch into separatism that for generations our society has striven to rectify.
I don’t care for it. I pledge allegiance to
“One LACMA, under God, indivisible, with painting and sculpture for all.”
an artsmeme thanks to a friend for bringing blacma teeshirt to our attention