NYU student-curated Woody Guthrie exhibition highlights protest music's enduring relevance

The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU presents a new exhibition titled 'Woody Guthrie: What This Guitar Might Do,' highlighting the folk artist's anthems against fascism and their relevance to current political issues. Co-curated by Bea Esteves Mendez, a 19-year-old sophomore, along with three peers, the exhibit features a replica of Guthrie's Coney Island home, showcasing instruments and over 130 archival reproductions from the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It includes his cartoons, drawings, notes, and lyrics, reflecting his activism against fascism, Jim Crow, and capitalism. Visitors can engage by playing instruments and writing. The exhibition also links Guthrie's legacy to modern protest music, featuring selections from Bad Bunny, A Tribe Called Quest, Jesse Welles, and Solange. Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, commended the exhibition's uplifting tone, in contrast to the seriousness often found in protest music. Running from March 31 to May 15 at the Clive Davis Gallery, the exhibition's focus on fascism and resistance is influenced by NYU's handling of pro-Palestinian protests.