Museums Cancel Kehinde Wiley Exhibits Amid Sexual Assault Allegations

Following allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, several museums have decided not to go ahead with exhibits featuring the work of artist Kehinde Wiley, The New York Times reports. 

The Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Pérez Art Museum Miami both said they would not host the traveling Wiley exhibit, “An Archaeology of Silence.” Before that, the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska pushed the opening of a different exhibit, “Kehinde Wiley: Omaha,” which was set to feature portraits of the city’s residents; the Joslyn said it was “revisiting” its schedule and will “announce any updates at a later date.” 

Over the past month, several men have come forward with allegations against Wiley, a hugely successful artist who’s best known for painting Barack Obama’s presidential portrait in 2018. The first claim was made by the artist Joseph Awuah-Darko, who posted on Instagram that Wiley assaulted him twice during and after a dinner in Ghana. Awuah-Darko said the encounter had begun consensually, but then Wiley allegedly forced himself on Awuah-Darko. 

This week, artist and activist Derrick Ingram said Wiley raped and sexually assaulted him during their brief relationship in 2021. A third man, Terrell Armistead, accused Wiley of raping him during an alleged encounter in 2010. Wiley’s accusers are reportedly planning to file a class action lawsuit against him.

Wiley has denied the allegations against him. In an Instagram post of his own earlier this week, he said his encounter with Awuah-Darko was consensual, and that in the years after, Awuah-Darko “consistently” contacted him, “professing his love for me, my talent, and my work.” He went on to allege that Awuah-Darko had “managed to conspire with another person I had a brief consensual encounter with in 2021” — ostensibly Ingram — who “also hoped for a more significant relationship.” 

Through a lawyer, Wiley denied having known or met Armistead (via ArtNews). The lawyer also said Wiley would “pursue every avenue available to him, legal and otherwise, to defend his reputation.”

The Minneapolis Institute of Art was slated to showing “An Archaeology of Silence” in February 2025. In announcing its decision to put the show on hold, the museum said it “was considering taking the Kehinde Wiley exhibition, but as a result of these unfortunate allegations we will not be proceeding with this presentation.”

The exhibit was slated to open at the Pérez Art Museum in just a few weeks, with a run scheduled from July through January 2025. The museum said only that it had “suspended plans” to host the show.

In a statement related to the cancellations, Wiley said, “It is disappointing that this social media-driven fabrication is distracting from the goal of the tour: shedding light on the inequities Black and Brown people face in our society. These allegations are completely false, raising more questions about their credibility and motivation than there are facts supporting their authenticity.”