Removal of a Kehinde Wiley Painting Sparks a Censorship Debate

A Kehinde Wiley painting displayed at a United States embassy was removed and a possible sale was discussed. Describing the work through labels such as ‘globalist’ and ‘woke’ raises the question of whether state collections should be filtered whenever political administrations change. The debate reminds us that public art programmes are not only instruments of diplomacy; they also have a duty to protect space for diverse social images.