I am lucky to be in Washington DC for a couple of days before our annual in-person board meeting for EcoAgricultural partners It’s a city I know well and like, mostly. I did pick the hottest June weather for quite a while with temperatures in the high thirties. It’s a mystery why about a quarter of Americans apparently believe climate change is fake, Another indicator of broken systems of trust.
One thing to do to avoid the heat of the day is to visit the seriously air-conditioned spaces of the co-located Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Next time, I will bring my fleece. I’ve been a few times over the years, but there is always something new to be inspired by and to learn from. As a coach, not only is continuous learning important, but I often use art in my coaching practice to stimulate thoughts from clients and myself. I never know where this will lead, so it can be quite a ride for myself and my clients.
My Co-Manager Partner at Hattrick Advisory Services, Mbugua Kimani is an artist and I sometimes use his paintings and prints to invite reflections from a client. So for example, what comes to mind when you see this?
Woodcut Print, Human Series-Multiple Identities by Mbugua Kimani
Take a closer look. What do you see? What does it remind you of? How do you feel about it? What emotions does it invoke?
So, when I move around art spaces, I can’t help thinking of the questions and invitations for thought that I would ask for from clients. And, of course, I will try to answer them too! Three things especially attracted my attention this time.
The first was this corner, designed for children to write about’ Who inspires you by fighting for justice today? ‘
This wasn’t a random question. It came as part of a special exhibition looking at the work of William H Johnson, an iconic recorder of American history through the eyes of the famous and the not-so-famous. Tragically, he spent he spent his last quarter of a century in a state hospital on Long Island, New York. As so often, black artists constantly struggled to be seen and heard and, indeed, to make a decent living from their art.
This exhibition invites us to reflect on injustice today and its impact on us directly and indirectly. Here is his self-portrait:
Anyway, I looked at 100 random comments from the children who had seen some of this exhibition and looked at what they wrote on the cards available. A few picked famous people, both Obamas, Mandela, Angelou. But most, more than 80%, picked people I had never heard of. Often, their mum, a brother, a dad, or an aunt. Some of these tributes were deeply poignant and beautiful, and sometimes about a tragic loss a child had suffered.
So, the coach in me noticed the authentic reflections the art had brought out in these kids. How it touched their emotions said something to them and me.
The second thing that engaged me was the several galleries of paintings in this beautiful building depicting an endless array of white men. Men on horses, men at a dining table, men throughout some 300 years of American history, portraits of 45 white male Presidents and one who was, is, male and black. And I wondered what many American citizens saw when they looked at ‘their’ history.
As I coach, I sat in one of the rooms of the great and good, with President Clinton on one side, a pixelated painting, slightly abstract, and Obama seated, suited, and oddly surrounded by green foliage. I watched as people glanced, noticed, recognized, and moved on. What, in that moment, did they see? What were they thinking? How were they feeling?
Pres. Barack Obama, National Portrait/ National Portrait Gallery
The third significant event was in the courtyard of the building, a lovely space sensitively covered by the architect Norman Foster. Sitting in a corner, having a coffee in this chilled space, in both senses of the world, I enjoyed watching people. I would love to have a video and show it to my clients to see what thoughts it provoked.
A large platform sits along one side of this large courtyard. The Smithsonian, wonderfully, is completely free, so you can just wander in and sit, without paying any attention to the art. On one end, a group of young Jewish men and women were having a picnic, with food and drink brought from home. On the other end, a Muslim family, husband and wife, and three children were having lunch. I catch snippets of everyday communication. A couple, speaking Mandarin, sit next to me. A family walk past, speaking Spanish. A gay couple, middle-aged, hold hands, moving to the exit. A woman, older and impeccably dressed, is pushed in a wheelchair by someone who might be from the Philippines. Children, shoes off, play in the mini fountains on the far side.
Maybe two hundred people are connected by this space but also separate and different. All is calm and refined. And I ask my clients and you what you are noticing here? What is this covered, air-conditioned rectangle telling you about who we are as humans, what we have become, and what we might yet be?
So, I had an interesting few hours protected from the Washington heat, reflecting on America’s past and present, inspired by children’s thoughts and the aspirations and journeys of artists speaking to us from the past.
As I left, I walked back past the comments the children made. One caught my eye:
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