Makeba Clay considers her schedule while the stuffed elephant on her desk, Gertrude, stands in for the many “elephants in the room” that crop up in Clay’s work.
“I’ve been in spaces where people think ‘Chief Diversity Officer’ means somebody who’s going to make us talk about race and all that uncomfortable stuff.”
The Phillips Collection House. Photo by Robert Lautman. Courtesy of The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.
Elephant figurines and other, mostly African, artworks from Clay’s personal collection decorate her office.
Glenn Ligon’s neon work, Double America, 2012; Clay before Frank Bowling, Mother’s House on South America, 1968; Selections from Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series,” 1940–41, seem to narrate miniature shack sculptures by Beverly Buchanan.
Aliza Nisenbaum, MOIA’s NYC Women’s Cabinet , 2016, in “The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement.” Courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Cheerful postcards pinned to a small pinboard above Clay’s desk feature positive affirmations: “Be the change you wish to see…,” “Grant me the serenity….”
Creating meaningful culture change demands “everybody at the table on the same team, asking the same question,” Clay said. “And then having the courage to do something about it.”
Marjorie and Duncan Phillips in front of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party , 1880–81, ca. 1954. Photo by Naomi Savage. Courtesy of the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Installation view of “The Warmth of Other Suns,” with embroidered maps by Alighiero Boetti against the back wall; Kader Attia’s Le Mer Morte ( The Dead Sea ), 2015; and a photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans, titled The State We’re In , 2015. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Courtesy of the Phillips Collection.
Clay poses before one of her favorite works in the galleries, El Anatsui, Dzesi, 2012; Clay helped curate the gift-shop merchandise for “The Warmth of Other Suns” including children’s books about migration, woven African baskets, and packs of 734C fair trade coffee, whose proceeds help train and educate refugees; Prints of Jacob Lawrence's “Migration Series,” 1940–41, and other personal artworks decorate Clay's office.