by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
February 15, 2026
By Robert Hill
Artist Nick Cave is presenting his new physique of art work titled “Mammoth” on the Smithsonian American Artwork Museum in Washington, D.C.
The exhibition opened Feb. 13 and options mammoths displayed as large-scale sculptures and in video installations. His art work explores historical past, id, and social reflection. The present marks Cave’s first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., bringing his work to the nation’s capital and highlighting artwork and cultural dialog.
Cave is thought for creating large-scale artworks that immediate viewers to replicate on historical past and id.
Cave, a Black artist raised in Missouri and now based mostly in Chicago, is thought for his celebrated “Soundsuits,” sculptural clothes that merge trend, efficiency, and visible artwork. Initially created in response to the 1991 Rodney King beating, the works conceal the wearer’s id, difficult assumptions about race, gender, and sophistication whereas symbolizing safety and empowerment. Cave, who has been exhibited at main museums nationwide, prompts his items by dance and collaborative performances, usually staging massive group occasions in unconventional areas. A few of his art work additionally explores themes surrounding slavery and racist imagery.
Within the Smithsonian present, he makes use of a prehistoric animal as a visible centerpiece, prompting his viewers to replicate on the previous and its connection to present-day conversations. He additionally included household heirlooms and different objects to assemble the present.
To make this occur, Cave gathered all the weather in his studio, strategically plotted how every part would seem, and labored on web site for 2 weeks. The piece is constructed from open steel frames, wispy hair, and different supplies. He integrated a set of his grandfather’s instruments, his brother’s wood cane, and his grandmother’s ceramic florals into his sculptures.
He connects his art work to immediately’s broader issues in regards to the erasure of historical past, referencing how the Trump administration’s order urged Smithsonian museums to take away what it described as “Improper Ideology.” Nonetheless, the present is constant, particularly given the present state of the world.
As reported by CNN, “I’m witnessing a time the place historical past is being erased, however but historical past is being revealed on the identical time,” Cave defined. “And so, once I take into consideration mammoths, I believe that at one level, they existed on the Earth, after which had been extinct and buried, after which rediscovered. What’s erased turns into revealed. What’s eliminated, reappears.”
The purpose of the “Mammoth” exhibition is to permit viewers to spend time with every object and type their very own observations and meanings, simply as Cave did.
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