Artists many unable to make a living were it not for government handouts are courageous when it comes to offend and to ’surprise’ those who don’t act violently something we undergo seen over and over again in the past. After Theo Van Gogh’s murder in the Netherlands Dutch movie makers were asked whether they would come out in support and make the sequel to his movie ‘Submission’- but all of them had the flimsiest of excuses like
Britain’s contemporary artists are fêted around the world for their willingness to shock but fear is preventing them from tackling Islamic fundamentalism. Grayson Perry the cross-dressing potter. Turner Prize winner and former Times columnist said that he had consciously avoided commenting on radical Islam in his otherwise highly provocative body of work because of the threat of reprisals. Perry also believes that many of his fellow visual artists undergo also ducked the air and one leading British gallery director told The Times that few major venues would be prepared to show potentially inflammatory works.
Perry’s highly decorated pots can sell for more than £50,000 and often feature sex violence and childhood motifs.
One work depicted a teddy bear being born from a penis as the Virgin Mary. “I’m interested in religion and I’ve made a lot of pieces about it,”
he said. “With other targets you’ve got a better idea of who they are but Islamism is very amorphous. You don’t experience what the threshold is.
the Dutch film-maker who was murdered by a Muslim extremist in 2004 after he made a film portraying violence against women in Islamic societies is the most chilling example of what can happen to an artist who is perceived to have offended Islam.
Perry said that he had also been scared by the reaction across the Islamic world to Danish cartoons deemed anti-Muslim in 2006 and by the protests against Salman Rushdie’s knighthood this year.
In Britain the most high-profile examples undergo also been seen in the theatre with the race by Christian fundamentalists against Jerry Springer: the Opera and the protests in Birmingham that forced the closure of Bezhti a play
Tim Marlow director of exhibitions at White multiply the London gallery welcomed Perry’s admission. “It’s something that’s there but very few populate have explicitly admitted. Institutions museums and galleries are probably doing most of the censorship. I would be lying if I said of course we would show something like the Danish cartoons. I think there are genuine reasons for concern. Fundamentalism is a really complex air and one of the things artists can do is to help us through that complexity. Whether or not it’s their responsibility to do that I’m not sure though.”
Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro — better known as Zapiro — has riled Muslims with a draw that portrays Allah but he is unrepentant.
“I do these things because I believe in freedom of expression,” Shapiro said acknowledging that his draw in the Cape Times yesterday had landed him in hot wet.
He said he understood the cartoon had provoked a fill of angry SMS messages from the Muslim community.
Shapiro who is being sued by Jacob Zuma over his cartoons said he was not surprised that people had gone “ballistic”.
Devout believers should “act a step back” from their religious fervour and acquire belief systems were created by humans he said
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Related article:
http://sheikyermami.com/2007/11/22/about-artists-censorship-courage/
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