Hyperallergic critic Aruna D'Souza reviews "Helter Skelter," an exhibition at the Fondazione Prada in Venice during the Venice Biennale, pairing artists Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince. Curated by Nancy Spector, the show juxtaposes works exploring American violence and beauty through appropriation, but D'Souza argues that Spector's framing avoids confronting the racial implications of the curatorial conceit, effectively segregating the artists' concerns rather than acknowledging how Blackness and whiteness intertwine in the American psyche.
The review matters because it critiques a high-profile, institutionally sponsored exhibition at a major international art event, raising questions about curatorial responsibility in addressing race. D'Souza's reading of Prince's "Folk Songs" as evoking lynched Black bodies—a reading she credits to the juxtaposition with Jafa's work—highlights how even well-intentioned pairings can perpetuate racial blindness if curators fail to explicitly name the histories their choices invoke.