# @hyperallergic on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DTvjhOlDxU_
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/53843946-hyperallergic-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/5ed0023cc6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-01-20T18:45:56.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Hyperallergic (@hyperallergic) — https://gondola.cc/hyperallergic

## Caption

A group of artists, preservationists, and activists is sounding the alarm against Trump’s potential demolition of a prominent federal office building and the artworks inside it — including several New Deal-era murals that speak to the value of Social Security in the United States.

Alex Lawson, executive director of the advocacy organization @social_security_works, co-authored a petition with local muralist @absurdlywell that demands the administration cease its plans to sell the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, described in the missive as the “Sistine Chapel of New Deal art.” The historically designated landmark in Washington, DC, houses the headquarters of the Social Security Administration and Voice of America’s offices. Its interiors, which feature works by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, Seymour Fogel, and Ethel and Jenne Magafan, are also landmarked. 

The most famous of the works is Shahn’s fresco-secco “The Meaning of Social Security” (1942), which depicts how the federal financial safety net lifted American families out of the poverty they endured during the Great Depression. Shahn once called it “the best work I’ve done.”

Lawson called Trump’s proposed transaction “authoritarianism 101” in an interview with Hyperallergic. “Erasing art culture and history is how authoritarians make it seem there’s nothing better than the thin gruel of cruelty they are offering. We couldn’t stop them from destroying the East Wing of the White House, but I pledge we’ll stop them from destroying the Wilbur Cohen building.”

To read the full story by Aaron Short, visit our link in bio.
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Left side panel detail of Ben Shahn’s mural “The Meaning of Social Security” at the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building (photo by Carol Highsmith via Library of Congress)

#SocialSecurity #NewDeal #Landmark #Murals #DC #Trump

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,583
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- **Comments:** 12

## Tags

dc, socialsecurity, murals, trump, landmark, newdeal

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