Under Construction

We don’t know the names of the people whose hands and skill literally built the 1933 Nelson-Atkins building, but we know what some of them look like. This episode begins with a photograph from the museum’s archive and dreams about stories that haven’t been recorded. That gets us thinking about what it feels like to go to an art museum and see people who look like you, and one exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins that really broke some ground for Kansas Citians in telling stories about Black American life. If a museum is a house of stories, it’s always under construction—and maybe it can change the rules.
Featuring Angel Tucker, Muenfua Lewis, Justin Ikerionwu, Sonié Ruffin, Chiluba Musonda, Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver II, Erik Stafford, Alvin Brooks, and Wanda Battle.

Learn more about our guests, see the art in this episode, and read a transcript of this episode here.