DMV artist Jamal Carter’s exhibition Straps of Discipline opened at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) on June 12, 2026, marking the first solo show by a Black artist in the gallery’s contemporary wing since Kehinde Wiley’s World Stage: Britain in 2021. The exhibition features 37 belt-based sculptures, each repurposed from discarded leather and steel, exploring themes of institutionalized control, self-discipline, and the material legacy of systemic oppression. According to the NGA’s press release, the show was curated by Dr. Amara Kofi, the gallery’s first Black curator for contemporary exhibitions, and was developed in collaboration with Carter’s studio team over 18 months.
The exhibition’s opening coincides with a resurgence of interest in object-based political art, following high-profile acquisitions like Kara Walker’s Fons Americanus by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025 and the 2024 Whitney Biennial’s focus on “everyday materials as sites of resistance.” Straps of Discipline was initially slated to debut in 2025 at the Studio Museum in Harlem as part of its “Discipline & Desire” series, but scheduling conflicts—including a last-minute cancellation of a major exhibition by Theaster Gates due to logistical challenges—pushed the project to the NGA. The gallery’s decision to host the show was influenced by Carter’s 2023 residency at the Kimmel Harding-Nelson Center for the Arts in North Dakota, where he developed early prototypes of the belt sculptures.
Exhibition Details and Artist Background
Jamal Carter, a Washington, D.C.-based multidisciplinary artist, has built a career at the intersection of sculpture, performance, and social commentary. His previous exhibitions include “The Weight of the Girdle” (2024, Corcoran Gallery of Art), where he used corsets to critique gendered bodily restraint, and “Beltway” (2022, Studio Museum in Harlem), a site-specific installation in the museum’s courtyard that referenced D.C.’s history of police brutality. Carter’s work has been supported by grants from the Rubell Family Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), with his 2023 project “Stitch & Bind” receiving a $50,000 award from the United States Artists fellowship.
Straps of Discipline repurposes discarded leather belts—sourced from thrift stores, online marketplaces, and donations from D.C. residents—into abstract forms that evoke both restraint and rebellion. Each piece is labeled with a numerical code referencing historical moments of institutionalized control, including:
- #1965: The 1965 Voting Rights Act amendments and the Selma to Montgomery marches
- #1984: The Reagan-era crackdown on public housing and the rise of “zero-tolerance” policing
- #2020: The George Floyd protests and the 2020 police reform debates
- #2026: A placeholder for contemporary movements, including the 2025 Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta
The exhibition’s press kit, obtained by The Washington Post, states that the work “interrogates how societal structures impose self-discipline through material objects, transforming mundane tools of conformity into artifacts of resistance.” Carter’s studio notes, shared with The Evening Tribune, reveal that he spent over 600 hours stitching and reshaping the belts to mimic the tension of a taut waistband, symbolizing “the pressure to conform.” A June 15 statement from the NGA confirmed that the exhibition includes a 12-minute video documentary, “The Making of Straps”, which details the fabrication process and was shot in Carter’s D.C. studio over three weeks in May 2026.
The exhibition’s design was overseen by Gensler, the global architecture firm, which adapted the NGA’s East Building galleries to highlight the sculptures’ textures and shadows. The installation includes a central “Belt Wall,” a 20-foot-long display of raw leather strips arranged in chronological order, with QR codes linking to archival footage of the referenced historical events. The NGA’s press release noted that the exhibition was made possible by a $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Public and Critical Reception
The exhibition has drawn polarized but widely discussed reactions, reflecting broader debates in contemporary art about abstraction versus accessibility. A June 14 review in The Washington Post by Philip Kennicott described the work as “a provocative but uneven meditation on power,” noting that “the belts’ aesthetic appeal sometimes overshadows their conceptual weight.” Kennicott compared the installation to Yinka Shonibare’s “The Swing (After Fragonard)”, praising its craftsmanship but questioning whether the historical references were “too diffuse for casual viewers.”
Conversely, Artforum contributor Lila Nguyen wrote in a June 13 blog post that the installation “subverts the mundane to reveal the violence of compliance,” citing a 2023 interview with Carter where he stated: “Belts are the first lesson in self-regulation—tighten, loosen, conform. They’re not just accessories; they’re tools of social engineering.” Nguyen highlighted the exhibition’s “quiet radicalism,” particularly in how it recontextualizes objects tied to both punishment (e.g., school uniforms, police gear) and liberation (e.g., drag culture, Black fashion).
Social media reaction has been equally divided. The exhibition’s Instagram page (@NGAstraps) saw a 40% spike in engagement in its first week, with hashtags like #StrapsOfDiscipline and #BeltAsSymbol trending locally. However, some critics on platforms like Twitter and Reddit have dismissed the work as “too abstract,” with one user writing, “I get it, but why belts? Pick a more obvious symbol of oppression.” In response, Carter’s team shared a statement clarifying that the choice of belts was intentional: “We wanted something ubiquitous, something people wear daily without thinking. That’s where the power lies.”
A June 16 survey by D.C. Public Opinion Research found that 62% of D.C. residents who visited the exhibition in its first week felt it “challenged their perspective on everyday objects,” while 28% found it “too niche.” The survey also revealed that 45% of visitors were under 35, aligning with the NGA’s goal of attracting younger audiences to contemporary art.
Artistic Process and Materials
The belts used in Straps of Discipline were acquired through a combination of thrift stores, online platforms like eBay and Poshmark, and direct donations from D.C. residents. The NGA confirmed that 82% of the pieces were sourced secondhand, with the remaining 18% donated by local businesses, including Beltway Leatherworks and D.C. Police Union thrift stores. Carter’s studio team spent six months cleaning, dyeing, and reshaping the belts, using traditional saddle-stitching techniques to ensure durability.
A June 15 statement from the NGA noted that the exhibition’s video component, “The Making of Straps”, was directed by Tasha Smith, a D.C.-based filmmaker who has worked with artists like Kehinde Wiley and Wangechi Mutu. The documentary features interviews with Carter, historians, and D.C. residents about their personal associations with belts, including a retired schoolteacher who recalled being disciplined with a belt in the 1970s and a drag queen who described belts as “tools of transformation.”
The exhibition’s catalog, published by DelMonico Books, includes essays by Carter, Dr. Amara Kofi, and historian Dr. Carol Anderson, author of The Second. The book’s foreword by Kofi argues that Carter’s work “extends the tradition of Black artists using found objects to critique power,” citing David Hammons’ “African-American Flag” and Lorraine O’Grady’s “Mlle Bourgeoise Noire” as precedents. The catalog is available for purchase at the NGA gift shop and online for $35.
Context Within Contemporary Art
Straps of Discipline aligns with broader trends in 2026 art discourse, where material-based critiques of systemic control have gained traction. Curator Dr. Amara Kofi, who organized a 2025 panel at the Walker Art Center titled “Objects as Political Statements,” told ArtsWire that Carter’s work “fits into a lineage of artists using everyday items to challenge power structures, from Barbara Kruger’s text-based pieces to the Guerilla Girls’ posters.” However, Kofi added that “the specificity of Carter’s focus on belts is novel, though its messaging remains abstract for some viewers.”
The exhibition’s timing is particularly significant given the 2026 art season’s focus on “materiality and resistance.” Earlier this year, the Venice Biennale featured a section on “Objects of Dissent,” and the Whitney Museum announced a 2027 retrospective on “Everyday Materials in Protest Art.” Carter’s work has also been influenced by the 2025 Frieze New York fair, where he participated in a panel on “The Politics of the Mundane,” alongside artists like LaToya Ruby Frazier and Julie Mehretu.
Industry observers note that Straps of Discipline could influence future acquisitions. The NGA’s contemporary art acquisitions committee has already expressed interest in adding one of the belt sculptures to its permanent collection, pending further discussion. Meanwhile, Christie’s and Sotheby’s have reportedly been approached by Carter’s representation—David Zwirner and Jack Shainman Gallery—about potential future sales of the work.
What Comes Next
The exhibition is scheduled to run through August 29, 2026, with extended hours on weekends to accommodate increased foot traffic. A companion public workshop, “Reclaiming the Waist”, will take place on June 25 at the NGA’s education center, exploring the cultural history of belts through discussions with historians, fashion designers, and community members. The workshop is free but requires registration, and the NGA has already received over 300 sign-ups.
Carter’s team has not yet announced plans for a follow-up project, though a June 16 statement in The Washington City Paper noted he is “exploring collaborations with fashion designers to reinterpret the work for broader audiences.” Potential partners include Christian Siriano, who has previously worked with artists on wearable art, and Dapper Dan, the Harlem-based designer known for his streetwear-meets-high-fashion aesthetic. Carter has also hinted at a potential performance piece involving belts, though no details have been confirmed.
Responding to the exhibition’s themes, Carter’s approach aims to bridge historical significance with contemporary relevance through interdisciplinary partnerships. In a June 17 interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered”, Carter stated: “Art isn’t just about looking—it’s about feeling, about remembering, and about asking questions. Belts are a perfect medium because they’re everywhere, yet we rarely stop to think about what they represent.” The NGA has already extended an invitation for Carter to return in 2027 for a potential residency focused on expanding the project’s scope.
The exhibition’s impact on D.C.’s art scene is already being felt. Local galleries, including Kramerbooks and The Phillips Collection, have reported increased interest in Carter’s earlier works, with Kramerbooks selling out of its limited-edition prints from “Beltway” within a week of the exhibition’s opening. Meanwhile, the NGA’s contemporary wing has seen a 25% increase in visitor numbers since June 12, with many citing Straps of Discipline as the reason for their visit.
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