Blog / 2025 / The Bias Inside Us

A few years ago, the Smithsonian Institution put together an educational exhibition dedicated to exploring the concept of bias. This display encourages reflection about how prejudice shapes our society, and, since 2021, it’s traveled to over thirty venues across the United States. The Bias Inside Us has been seen at public libraries, museums, and universities as well as at arts centers and other community spaces.

It’s currently on display at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft, New Jersey, where it’s been paired with a juried exhibition—one that, thankfully, had no application fee.* The show features 56 artists from across the state who are all exploring bias, identity, and belonging in their work.

This is my contribution to the Monmouth Museum’s The Bias Inside Us, and I’m delighted to say it received an award from the show’s juror, artist Bryant Small.

Lenwood’s likeness was originally part of Empathetic Magic, a collection of portraits that I started in 2013, before most of us could imagine the current political landscape. There was a lot going on in my studio and my life at the time, so I didn’t end up finishing Empathetic Magic until several years later, meaning that my first exhibition of the collection was in 2017, when Season One of Donald Trump Murders Democracy was just getting underway.

It’s surreal to see Lenwood’s portrait on display alongside a Smithsonian traveling exhibition just as Trump has decreed that a number of Smithsonian museums have four months to fall in line with his MAGA vision.

In its August 12^th letter announcing an “Internal Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions and Materials,” the White House says that the Institution must “ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

The Bias Inside Us, both the traveling exhibit and the juried show, are at the Monmouth Museum through the first week of September. The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 am to 4 pm.

If you can’t get to Lincroft to see the shows, I recommend checking out the beautifully designed and animated online version of the Smithsonian’s exhibition. And I recommend doing that sooner rather than later, seeing as the White House’s letter specifically mentions that Trump’s cronies will be reviewing the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibits and online materials.