Barbara Kruger’s art has long revolved around repetition—of form, language, and meaning. Throughout her career, she has produced bold, text-driven works that expose the often-invisible mechanisms of power embedded in media and culture. Time and again, she has revisited these earlier pieces, particularly those installed in public spaces, reimagining them through contemporary lenses. Her recent video series, aptly titled Replays, continues this reflective approach.
A compelling clue lies in Untitled (Questions), a mural Kruger first created in 1990 for a temporary venue of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. She later updated the work in 2018 for the museum’s Geffen Contemporary location. Spanning 191 feet, the revised version was originally intended to remain in place until the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Yet, even now, it still towers over the Geffen’s parking lot—its message more urgent and relevant than ever.
There have been at least two significant moments when the National Guard stood ominously beneath Barbara Kruger’s Untitled (Questions) mural. The first was in 1992, during the Los Angeles uprisings that followed the acquittal of four LAPD officers charged with using excessive force against Rodney King. In a photograph taken that year by Gary Leonard, three armed National Guardsmen are captured walking away from Kruger’s mural, which visually echoes the American flag—its stripes replaced with stark, provocative text. One line stands out: “WHO IS BEYOND THE LAW?”
That same haunting question resurfaced this week in another photograph, this time by Jay L. Clendenin. His image shows the mural once again looming over National Guardsmen clad in riot gear. This deployment had been ordered by then-President Donald Trump in response to protests against ICE raids in Los Angeles, which targeted individuals allegedly living in the country without documentation. Yet Clendenin’s photo captures no demonstrators—only a strangely still and quiet moment, belying the unrest, vandalism, and arrests occurring just beyond the frame. Kruger’s question, “WHO IS BEYOND THE LAW?”, echoes once again—unanswered, and perhaps unanswerable.
Of course, there are official answers. According to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, former presidents enjoy legal immunity for actions taken while in office. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, claimed, “The President is not above the law”—a statement that, paradoxically, reinforced the notion that they might be.
But the protests raise broader, more urgent questions: Is ICE beyond the law? Is the National Guard? These are inquiries Kruger might well have posed decades ago—and likely still would today. That her work continues to provoke such reflections is a testament to its enduring power and foresight.
