‘Turn the Volume Up!’ Highlights the History of Speaking Out for Change in America

From the collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, which features a wealth of artwork and artifacts related to social justice and community organizing, a new exhibition highlights American democracy and freedom of speech through the lens of art as an agent of change.

Turn the volume up! includes works by a diverse group of contemporary artists and photographers, from Spider Martin’s dramatic documentation of Freedom Marches during the Civil Rights Movement to Kara Walker’s multimedia interrogations of U.S. history and racial stereotypes. Visitors will also encounter works by the Guerilla Girls, Carrie Mae Weems, Kiki Smith, Bruce Davidson, and many more.

Kara Walker, “Confederate Prisoners Being Conducted from Jonesborough to Atlanta” from the portfolio ‘Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)’ (2005), offset lithograph and screenprint on paper, edition 35/35, 39 x 53 inches. © Kara Walker, photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion

The Nasher has organized the exhibition into five thematic areas: Remarks, Organize, Records, Dissents, and Petitions. Photographs, sculptures, installations, paintings, and more illustrate the array of visual languages artists use to convey important messages, influencing how people discuss issues and are spurred toward civic action.

The Guerilla Girls, for example, famously pasted posters around Manhattan in the 1980s that shone a light on the glaring lack of representation of women artists in not only visual art but across popular culture. Davidson is renowned for illuminating social inequality in visceral photographs, from the Jim Crow South to impoverished neighborhoods in New York City. And Carol Summers’ bold screenprint of a giant red “X” over a photo of a Vietnamese mother and her children was part of a campaign by Artists and Writers Protest urging the end of the war in Vietnam.

Throughout the show’s run, pieces will be rotated in and out so that visitors can experience a wide array of works in the museum’s collection. Turn the volume up! opens on August 27 and will continue through July 11, 2027. Everything Now All at Once also continues through November 1.

an artwork by Carol Summers featuring a Vietnamese woman and her children in a black-and-white photo, with a giant red "X" over the top of the image — Carol Summers, “Kill for Peace” from the portfolio ‘Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Viet Nam’ (1967), screenprint on paper, edition 81/100, 23 1/2 × 19 1/4 inches. © Estate of Carol Summers, photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion

a sculpture by Sam Durant of a small chainlink fence that looks like a cage, with a sign that reads "obedience to the law is freedom" — Sam Durant, “…For People Who Refuse to Knuckle Down” (2004), steel and wood, 90 x 82 x 82 inches. © Sam Durant, photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion

an artistic portrait of Malala Yousafzai — Carlos Vega, “Who is Malala” (2016), mixed media including oil and etched lead on panel, 62 3/8 x 52 3/8 x 2 5/8 inches. © Carlos Vega, photo by Brian Quinby

a black-and-white photo by Bruce Davidson of a Black woman at a civil rights march wearing a sign that reads "Jim Crow must go" — Bruce Davidson, “Time of Change” (1962), gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 inches. © Bruce Davidson

Thomas Hirschhorn, “CNN-CHAIN” (2002), cardboard, gold wrapping paper, and tape; edition 3/50, 98 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 4 inches. © Thomas Hirschhorn, photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion

a black-and-white photo by Spider Martin of Martin Luther King, Jr., giving a speech at the March on Washington in 1965 — Spider Martin, “Dr. King Speaks to the Crowd of 25,000 people at the March’s End” (1965), archival digital print on exhibition fiber paper, edition 2/3, 24 x 35 1/2 inches. © Spider Martin/Briscoe Center For American History

an oil painting by Peter Williams with numerous grid-like compartments containing cartoonish faces and objects — Peter Williams, “Incarnation” (2019), oil-based enamel, oil and graphite on canvas, 60 x 72 inches. ©The Estate of Peter Williams, photo by Brian Quinby

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