I've talked a lot about some different topics so far, and I'm kind of bringing them together here. All the symbols embracing censorship- the act of being censored, or limited by law, "for the good of the people," as the story usually goes. Censorship has to do a lot with the rhetoric that is used in society- officials will say that they are doing good when they are continually stripping away the freedoms that were once commonplace in our community. In the other post, I looked at several types of art that are highly debated, and what it means to be considered "art." Here, I want to look at where the problem is with double standards in the world of art and art being censored for society's sake.
Double standards galore in society: it is ok for men to have their shirts off in public and be called "a work of art," but women are not allowed to show their chests in public or it's "inappropriate." In the age of classical art, or ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, we see all different artworks with people showing different body types, and they are still shown today. Yet, as the picture illustrates here, for modern artists to illustrate the body today, it gets censored today. It doesn't make sense to me. The most commonly cited example is it offends someone in some way., or it is not appropriate for children to see the human body. A great example here is Michaelangelo's Statue of David, which was recently banned from schools in Florida for "being too pornographic." The outrage came after parents reported lessons on Renaissance art for sixth graders including the famous statue, and citing that they had no problem with the sculpture itself, but that no parent had been informed in advance to know about the lessons beforehand. As school officials also discussed, it would be possible to show parts of the statue and not the entirety. The whole idea though, goes back to censorship, and enough people feel like they're not being heard or respected, and things get changed to make more people happy.
By all means, it is not just about schools- although they do portray a large part in censored art, I've found. In the National Coalition Against Censorship, there are many different reasons cited in different pieces. Artwork posted in San Francisco with George Washington and violence against Native Americans and African American slaves; there was a mural in Los Angeles that became "whitewashed" that was offending Koreans ("whitewashing" is a whole other topic); an artist that had an abstract painting of the American flag, but with its colors separated, symbolizing the divide of the country, and was deemed to be a "desecration" and made to be taken down. These are just a few of many of the reasons stated for various art pieces that have been taken down. Another display is taken down because the artist was a previous sexual offender and had served jail time, but still forced to have the artwork taken down; the NCAC issued a statement that "it was a violation of academic and curatorial freedom" ("Art and Culture Censorship Timeline"). A lot of these issues here go back to the "debate between the individual and the state," as talked about in my other blog on censorship and book freedoms.
The year 2020 was a big year in many ways. The coronavirus pandemic changed the world, including accelerating a lot of different censors. Artistic expression, LGBTQ+ speech, individual freedoms, and even peaceful assembly all saw restrictions during the pandemic. While we are no longer under a "global emergency," many of these restrictions are still in place. "According to an alliance of civil society groups called Civicus Monitor, civil rights were found to have deteriorated in nearly every country. “The use of detention as the main tactic to restrict protests only shows the hypocrisy of governments using Covid-19 as a pretense to crack down on protests,” said Civicus Monitor’s research lead Marianna Belalba Barreto. This year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPC) also found that murders of journalists have more than doubled worldwide" (Batycka). Creative acts and artistic expression are at an all-time high for being repressed or restricted, at a time when we all need them most. Unfortunately, it is not just America. We are relatively fortunate, in regard to this area. "Art and Creative Acts that Were Censored in 2020" looks at acts that were censored in countries all around the world, not just the United States. Artists are being persecuted for their activism, songs that talk about politics or border disputes are being banned in other countries, and China especially has tightened regulations on films, in general, that claim to "change their history" or barred from using certain terms like "Mongol" and "Genghis Khan." That's like barring Americans from talking about the slave trade- it is a sad and violent but true part of history. People are trying to re-write history books by taking out parts of history they don't like, or omitting things they don't agree with out of textbooks. To censor a book or artistic expression is to censor our own history.
So to look at it from the other side: the side of the artist: what happens when we see all the news on things being censored and taken down, freedoms being stripped like a child getting their favorite toy taken away? The biggest emotion is fear; fear of being repressed, or fear of being criminally charged. Fear of getting questioned and criticized. People use creativity and artistic expression for many reasons: to escape reality, or sometimes because of reality- it inspires. See my first post here on inspiration... people are inspired by all different experiences, other people, and other works of art. People love to be able to express themselves in all different ways. Another grand act of censorship is people taking offense and forcing museums, many of which have held works of art for decades, have been forced to take down early 19th and 20th-century works of art from the display, citing "political correctness" or "offending viewers." What if the goal of the artist was to shock the viewer?
I hope to see a world around us where the future is not so restrictive or censored, and artistic expression is free for everyone.
Here is a link to more on art and censorship itself.
Or, a glance into censorship on university campuses.
Works Cited and Referenced
Anastaplo, George. "censorship". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/censorship. Accessed 4 June 2023.
“Art.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art. Accessed 12 Jun. 2023.
“Art and Culture Censorship Timeline.” National Coalition Against Censorship, 10 Dec. 2022, ncac.org/resource/art-and-culture-censorship-timeline.
Batycka, Dorian. “Art and Creative Acts That Were Censored in 2020.” Hyperallergic, 31 Dec. 2020, hyperallergic.com/612222/art-and-creative-acts-that-were-censored-in-2020/.
Dubreil, Jean. “Michelangelo’s David Banned in Florida Schools Because Deemed ‘Pornographic’!” Artmajeur Online Art Gallery, Mar. 2023, www.artmajeur.com/en/magazine/2-art-news/michelangelo-s-david-banned-in-florida-schools-because-deemed-pornographic/333109.
Hencz, Adam. “The Fear of Art: Contemporary Art Censorship.” Artland Magazine, 7 Mar. 2023, magazine.artland.com/the-fear-of-art-contemporary-art-censorship/.
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