“Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate”
Published: April 1, 2008
Landmark Holter exhibit transforms the literature of hate
By Wilbur Rehmann
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength to Love, 1963
“We believe we must fearlessly confront racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of injustice by shining a bright light on those activities and speaking up for the democratic values that unite us.”
- Montana Human Rights Network, Statement of Purpose
The catalogue for the Holter Museum’s exhibition of “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate” begins with a preface by executive director Liz Gans that quotes the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the approach to the “darkness” of hate and violence.
The show, which opened in Helena Jan. 25 and continues through April 13, is one of the most powerful exhibits that the Holter has sponsored. It is about transforming some of the darkest and ugliest racist and anti-Semitic words into something completely different - loving each other and celebrating diversity.
The collaboration between the Montana Human Rights Network and the Holter came about when the network received a call from a disillusioned member of the white supremacist group, World Church of the Creator (WCOTC).
WCOTO had been an active and violent white supremacist group working in Montana and the Northwest. During the 1990s, the group held conferences and meetings near Superior and distributed hate literature in Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, Helena and other Montana towns. Ben Klassen, founder of the WCOTC, wrote numerous pamphlets and other literature; his most widely circulated book was The White Man’s Bible. Over 4,000 volumes of his writings were kept in a storage locker near Superior.
Klassen committed suicide in 2003 but his ideas and literature continued to inspire members of the group as they spewed his message of hate."When co-director Ken Toole and I received a call in 2003 from a man who claimed to be a member of the WCOTC and was interested in meeting with us and talking about his disillusionment with the white supremacist movement, we agreed with some trepidation to meet with him in Missoula,” said Christine Kaufman, MHRN executive director.
This impoverished defector offered to give the MHRN all the contents of the WCOTC storage locker for enough money to help him to get out of town and leave the past behind.
The network approached the Holter Museum for help in putting the material to some good. The museum decided the project fit its mission, Gans explains, “because ‘fear of the other’ is part of all our lives, because societal problems like discrimination and intolerance are addressed by many contemporary artists, and because one of the Holter Museum’s overarching goals is to explore the boundaries of all types - between people, their traditions and their ideas.”
“The exhibition itself bridges the boundaries between hate and compassion, ugliness and beauty,” she adds.
More than 100 artists from coast to coast responded to the museum’s open invitation to reflect upon or transform the white supremacist propaganda, and more than 60 works were selected for the exhibition.
Katie Knight was curator for the project and spent many hours contacting artists and discussing how they might approach the subject matter. “The responsibility of socially concerned artists is not just to react to problems with personal opinions, but also to research significant issues and develop an eloquent vocabulary that will relevantly address the questions at hand,” she says.Many Montana artists participated, including Dana Boussard, John Buck, Patricia Buckley, Jane Waggoner, Ralph Esposito, Tom Foolery, George Foster, Pam Gerwe, Stephen Glueckert, Valerie Hellermann, Tim Homes, Lisa Jarrett, Dave Kirk, Richard Notkin, Ellen Ornitz, Tim Speyer and Cathy Weber.
“Many of these artists are pioneers in the use of art as civic dialogue,” says Knight. “They have focused on issues of social justice for decades. It is a joy to include their work, which has shaped the collective understanding of the power of art."The results are both astonishing and moving. Sculpture, video, painting, photography, collage, printmaking, book arts, beadwork, fiber and performance all offer thought-provoking, insightful and beautiful answers to Dr. King’s appeal, to turn darkness into light.
