Artwashing

Artwashing is the use of art and artists in a positive way to distract from or legitimize negative actions by an individual, organization, country, or government—especially in reference to gentrification.^[1][2]

Etymology

With a structure similar to terms such as greenwashing, pinkwashing, sportswashing, and purplewashing, it is a portmanteau of the words "art" and "whitewashing". The term was coined in the 2017 protests against gentrification in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.^[3][4][5][6]

Examples

Hunter Biden was accused of this in the 2020s.^[7]