While exploring CMOA’s collection by artist nationality offers an avenue into understanding how global the collection is, it is important to recognize the limitations of this data. Nationality does not equal diversity. The most common nationality within the collection—American—represents people of all different races, gender identities, abilities, and sexual orientations, which all shape their experience of the world. The fact that they are all the same nationality, American, does not mean that they all share the same lived experience. Nationality can only go so far in reflecting diversity of experience.

Further, there are people who may identify with multiple nationalities. Perhaps they lived in a different country and have immigrated elsewhere, or their family carries on traditions that makes them feel a connection with that country and identity. The data is unable to capture this complexity.

In an effort to tease out some of these complexities, I mapped the birthplace of artists classified with an American or an English nationality. While many of the artists were born in the United States and England, respectively, quite a few were born elsewhere—suggesting that perhaps these artists could identify with the nationality of their birthplace as well as with their American or English nationality. Accordingly, these maps complicate the notion of “American” or “English.” Even with regard to the CMOA collection itself, while it may feel overwhelmingly American, these maps indicate that the “American” classification could encompass other nationalities as well.

Click here for details on how these visualizations were created.