University of North Texas cancels exhibition criticizing ICE after opening

The University of North Texas shut down Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez’s exhibition after it had already been installed and opened at the College of Visual Arts and Design Gallery in Denton. Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá had been scheduled to run from February 3 through May 1, but the university ended it nine days after opening, halting a three-month exhibition that included Quiñonez’s I.C.E. Scream works, translucent resin paletas that criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through imagery such as handcuffs and guns.

University leaders discussed taking down individual pieces first. Provost Michael McPherson and President Harrison Keller weighed the removal of artworks “of concern” before McPherson told Keller, “Coming down totally on Monday.” In the days before the shutdown, CVAD leadership also covered the gallery’s street-facing windows with brown paper. The university did not give a detailed public explanation for the closure when it happened.

Quiñonez, a Mexican-born artist raised in Dallas, said the exhibition was meant to do more than criticize ICE. He described the work as a celebration of immigrant communities and dual identity, part of a body of art that turned the paleta, a familiar Mexican treat, into artwork criticizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Boston University had organized the exhibition to travel to Texas for the UNT run, and curator Kate Fowle, who previously led MoMA PS1 and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, brought the show to Denton.

Quiñonez was on campus on January 12, 2026, to judge a student art competition and tour the facilities, and he planned to return for a reception on February 19. Instead, the show closed before that event could take place.

On February 20, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the National Coalition Against Censorship sent UNT a joint letter warning that, as a public university, it was bound by the First Amendment and its own anti-viewpoint-discrimination policies. Leaked transcripts show the university acted because of the political and public response to the anti-ICE messaging.

Faculty members issued an open letter to President Harrison Keller and other leaders, graduate students warned the cancellation could unsettle future thesis exhibitions, and students gathered outside the shuttered gallery for a candlelit protest.