Trout Museum's 'Guiding Ethos' is Rooted in Collectivism, Cultural Stewardships and Resistance

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Photo via Trout Museum of Art - troutmuseumart.org

David Najib Kasir - "Linear Equations of Children Divided by the Commutative Property of God"

"Linear Equations of Children Divided by the Commutative Property of God" by David Najib Kasir

Currently on display at Appleton’s Trout Museum of Art is Guiding Ethos, a group exhibition with 25 national and international artists whose works function as catalysts for cultural stewardship, resistance, collectivism and new futures. Curated by Jenie Gao, who is currently based between Madison, Wisconsin and Vancouver, British Columbia, Guiding Ethos opened October 11 and runs through January 18.

Featuring artists from the Midwest, both East and West Coasts and British Columbia, “Guiding Ethos” spans mediums of painting, textile, sculpture, installation and digital media. It is not only a group exhibition but an exercise in group protection, as those participating in the show have either been previously censored in the fine art world or use their art as a form of protest and community-building. As such, “Guiding Ethos” effectively puts artists’ pieces in conversation and solidarity with one another.

Gao had been given full creative license by the Trout, selecting each artist for the show themself over the course of a year and a half. Artists participating in “Guiding Ethos” include Christy Chan of California, whose 2018 public art project was censored by Richmond City Hall for featuring quotes critical of the then-current administration, as well as Wisconsin’s Fatima Laster, Rosy Petri and Emily Leach —who all withdrew work from the 2022 Wisconsin Triennial following the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA)’s failure to address institutional racism against Black artists.

Cancelled Artists

Also featuring work is Noel Maghathe of Ohio, whose 2025 performance on Palestinian mourning had been canceled by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Another exhibition by Maghathe, in collaboration with Kiki Salem of Missouri (who is in Guiding Ethos as well), was canceled by Apexart for mentioning genocide in Gaza.

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Photo via Trout Museum of Art - troutmuseumart.org

Ger Xiong - "Fighting Their War"

"Fighting Their War" by Ger Xiong

“In terms of the curation process, I aimed to accomplish a few things,” Gao shares. “First, the show is both locally and globally connected. Half of the artists live in or have a connection to Wisconsin, and the other half represent the national and international arts community. This serves to root the exhibition to the region while also contextualizing Wisconsin artists in a greater critical, cultural discourse.”

“Second,” Gao continues, “I chose these artists because I believe they are incredibly talented and deserving of exhibition opportunities, and because despite the injustices they have faced, they have continued to fight not solely for their own communities but in a shared solidarity with one another.”

Pieces displayed in Guiding Ethos include Rosy Petri’s All of Us or None of Us watermelon quilt demonstrating Black-Palestinian solidarity, Nipinet Landsem’s From the River to the Sea illustrating two hands intertwined with Ojibwe floral clothing and a kuffiyeh, Noel Maghathe’s Over Everything (Situ and Amo) containing photographs of the artist’s family in Palestine, and Whess Harman’s Potlatch Punk series—a testament to Indigenous resistance in the Pacific Northwest against Canada’s potlatch ban, featuring beaded jackets with kuffiyehs tucked under their collars in a nod to Indigenous-Palestinian solidarity.

Frontline Caregivers

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Photo via Trout Museum of Art - troutmuseumart.org

Nafis White - "Oculus"

"Oculus" by Nafis White

Gao also chose artists whose practices expand beyond the studio, such as Brianna Hernández of New York, a certified death doula who elevates caregiver tools as precious objects in her work Útilos Curativos, as well as Nirmal Raja of Massachusetts, whose work Feeble Barriers features collected quotes from healthcare workers who were at the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic stitched into medical masks.

“I once had a professor who said of my art practice, that I needed to decide if I were a political artist or a studio artist, because I could not be both,” Gao recalls. “I always thought this sentiment was wrong. In the arc of my career, I have surrounded myself with abundant proof that artists are a multiplicity unto themselves—in the studio, in their political ethos, in their activism, in their care work, and beyond.”

Gao has run an anti-gentrification business for 11 years now, with much of their work contending with the two-fold problem of artists being victims of exploitation but also facilitators of gentrification. As a person of Taiwanese Chinese descent living in diaspora, Gao’s own artistic practice finds them reflecting on their own responsibility living on stolen Indigenous land, recognizing that migration is beneficial and necessary when done outside the forces of colonial displacement and forced assimilation. “Guiding Ethos is thus the outcome of an ongoing question I have had—about how we break cycles of harm and work towards betterment and justice for all people.” Gao was recently appointed the Executive Director of Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. 

In an age where artistic and cultural censorship is prevalent, Gao believes it is a more important time than ever for artists to speak up despite the risks as it is far more dangerous to accept the oppressor’s terms, elaborating, “When each of us decides to be individually brave, we give permission to others to also be brave, and it becomes much easier for us to be courageous together.”

They add, “I also believe this is not solely on artists. For artists to assume the risks of being public messengers, they are counting on all forms of support, both out in the open and behind the scenes. The greater public must continue to support artists who are willing to take risks by telling the stories and creating the language that we need to criticize and dismantle oppressive systems.”