For Hyperallergic, Damien Davis discussed Thomas J Price’s Times Square sculpture, “Grounded in the Stars”, and the manufacture of “Black fatigue” in art:
But the attacks reveal more than discomfort; they expose a strategy. By framing Price’s work as “wokeness,” it is easier to justify its removal or marginalization. When the fatigue narrative is deployed, it doesn’t just suggest that society is tired of conversations about race — it implies that Black presence itself is the burden. This isn’t incidental; it’s strategic. Reframing “Black fatigue” as society’s exhaustion with Black visibility absolves institutions from responsibility and makes retreat feel reasonable. Price’s sculpture, by merely existing, is treated as an act of provocation.
Funny how everyone craves realism in all forms of art (see the incessant need for immersive graphics in video games as an example) but when it comes to a sculpture of a real Black woman in a real pose with a real hairstyle, there’s a problem.