Texas Southern University

         John Davis’ mural The Castration of Humanity is a reflection on the conflict between the past and future. On either side, large African statuettes, one male and one female, stand tall. Both are missing chunks from their genitalia; in their places are different pieces of technology. Towards the center of the mural, a group of Black women move gracefully throughout the scene, wearing white dresses and natural hairstyles. A tumbling scroll of the United States Constitution falls around their heads. Below their feet, a swirling American flag shrouds a Black man with his eyes closed. His head is surrounded by ringed planets and stars. Other details include a sun and moon near the upper left and right corners, respectively. Left of the shrouded man there is a hand reaching towards a scale of justice and wooden ship. There is also “damage” painted onto the mural, including streaks meant to imitate water damage, as well as faux cracking and flaking paint.

          Davis’ mural, painted with an airbrush, illustrates the tension between history & culture and technology & progress. Around the same time as he painted this mural, art students and faculty were unsuccessfully protesting for the protection of murals from construction and renovation. In one contemporary instance, several student murals were destroyed in order to install windows that looked into a new computer lab. The incident, distressing to a number of students and faculty, speaks to the central theme of Davis’ mural, showing how so-called advances can come at the cost of protecting art. Years later, the artist returned to Hannah Hall to see his mural, only to find that several large holes had been bored into his painting, the result of construction on the other side of the wall. At first, he said, he was horrified to see what had happened to a work to which he had dedicated so much time, effort, and care. But, after some time, he felt instead that it was a fulfillment of the future he foresaw, further illustrating the prescience and significance of his powerful mural. 

This program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.