Art Against ICE
How protestors are memorializing Renee Nicole Good, an homage to NYC’s MetroCard, an exclusive look at Joiri Minaya's artist film, and our weekly community columns.
How protestors are memorializing Renee Nicole Good, an homage to NYC’s MetroCard, an exclusive look at Joiri Minaya's artist film, and our weekly community columns.
On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, days after the Trump administration deployed a large-scale immigration crackdown targeting the area's diasporic Somali community. President Trump's words about the murder — that Good "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over" the officer — differ sharply from video documentation of the event.
Thousands gathered in vigil and protest that evening, turning President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's words against them via signs and banners. A demonstrator outside the ICE building in Washington, DC, for instance, wielded a banner reading "domestic terrorist," mocking Noem's characterization of Good as a threat. It's just one instantiation of how art can disrupt official narratives, expose both the cruelty and flimsiness of MAGA's dehumanizing worldview, and forge bonds of solidarity.
In these dark times, visual literacy and journalistic accuracy are more important than ever. Let us not forget that Good was herself a poet, an artist. We owe her more than our grief.
— Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
A digital portrait of Renee Nicole Good (screenshot Hyperallergic via @nikkolas_smith on Instagram)
Artists React to the ICE Killing of Renee Nicole Good
Staff Reporter Rhea Nayyar writes on how protestors both condemn ICE's killing of Renee Good and memorialize her through art. "Carrying remembrance and anti-ICE signs, flowers, stuffed animals in reference to Good's six-year-old son's toys seen in her car, and remembrance candles, those who came to mourn Good honored both her life and her death."
University of Notre Dame Offers Fully-Funded MFA With Generous Stipend
Notre Dame is accepting graduate applications for fall 2026 in Studio Art (Painting/Drawing, Photography, Ceramics, Sculpture) and Design (Industrial Design, Visual Communication Design).
Goodbye to a NYC Icon
A MetroCard depicting Biggie Smalls (image courtesy New York Transit Museum)
NYC’s Transit Museum Pays Homage to the MetroCard
New York City's Transit Museum pays homage to the end of the 32-year reign of the MetroCard through a special exhibition that delves into its technology, history, and a now-defunct mascot ("Cardvaark"), Aaron Short reports.
Artist Film
Film still of Joiri Minaya, "Venus Flytrap" (2025)
Joiri Minaya: Venus Flytrap
Co-directed by Joiri and Xenia Matthews and produced by BlackStar Projects, the film follows the artist through the creation of a performance series and installation in North America's oldest surviving botanical garden. Watch it exclusively on Hyperallergic.
Nevada Museum of Art Presents the 2026 Art + Environment Summit: Under Pressure
This three-day gathering features Kim Stanley Robinson, Jeffrey Gibson, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Rose B. Simpson, and many more. April 16–18, 2026.
Jimmy Carter, "The Hornet's Nest" (2003), oil on board (photo courtesy Christie's)
Art Movements: Knights, Presidents, and Crooks
King Charles hands out honors, Christie’s auctions off a painting by Jimmy Carter, Trump sells a painting of Jesus, Amy Sillman leaves Gladstone for Zwirner Gallery, and other industry news.
Required Reading
The celebrated writer Roxane Gay talks Guerrilla Girls, ICE's blueprint for fascism, NYC First Lady Rama Duwaji designed a choking hazard sign, and other must-reads from across the web.
A View From the Easel
In this week's edition of artists sharing the spaces where they work, California-based artist XiaoXiao Wu yearns for higher ceilings (same), and Brooklyn-based fiber artist Desmond Beach talks about the studio as a container for emotion.
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program
The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program is currently accepting applications for its 2026–2027 residency period. The program awards studio space to 17 visual artists for year-long residencies in Brooklyn, New York. Read more on Hyperallergic.
Deadline: January 15, 2026 | thestudioprogram.com/apply
Jozanne Rabyor succinctly sums up all of our thoughts on Staff Writer Isa Farfan's "Trump Sells Off Jesus Painting for $2.75M at NYE Party":
Oh, dear.
ICYMI
A work outside of a Manhattan subway station envisions ICE agents arresting the Statue of Liberty (photo Isa Farfan/Hyperallergic)
New York Graffiti Shows ICE Arresting the Statue of Liberty
The artist says he drew inspiration from the subway art of Keith Haring. | Isa Farfan