February 16, 2005
art censorship
An exhibition of photographs in the Vanguard Exhibition depicting women bound, handcuffed, chained and hooded like tortured Iraqi prisoners has triggered a conflict between Broken Hill Council and the Broken Hill City Art Gallery.
I stand with the Art Gallery on this against the city fathers.
Titled, 'Terror Begins at Home', the exhibition is by a local artist Angela Fitzpatrick, who said it was based on the infamous images of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, with the intention of "showing the parallels in our homes". She said the photos highlighted the plight of victims of domestic violence, and attempts to censor her work were outrageous.
Broken Hill has the third-highest rate of domestic violence in NSW, with 277 offences recorded in 2003 in a region of 21,000 people.
The conflict arises because a directive from the council's general manager, James Hall, and mayor Ron Page, to Jacqui Hemsley, director of the Broken Hill City Art Gallery, to remove the 11 photos, intended to highlight domestic violence from their prime window position.
The reason was provided by the NSW MP, and former Mayor, Peter Black. The exhibition would put at risk future state government grants.
The images are online. As far as I can gather the art gallery has been directed to turn some photographs in the Vanguard exhibition away from public sight.
So it is not just about money. It is about the violence in the homes, the style of the photos and their link to the images from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
It is a provocative linkage for sure. But isn't an autonomous art meant to disturb? What is the point of affirming domestic violence? Who wants an art that, in Adorno's words, "slips into a conservative posture where it dishes out cheap comfort and propaganda in favour of the status quo." (Aesthetic Theory, p.467)
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at February 16, 2005 01:24 PM | TrackBack