The Subject is War/The Subject is Censored
1991, New Orleans, LA; 1993, Kansas City, MO
A collaborative public art project consisting of a series of eight photographic works installed in lighted public bus shelters that incorporated image and text dealing with issues of war.
While the exhibition was being developed, the patriotic fervor and yellow-ribbon fever of the first Gulf War escalated to the point that the leasing agent for New Orleans' bus shelter displays, Transportation Displays, Inc. (TDI) and their New York attorneys became fearful of the subject matter. They rejected seven of the eight works, citing their right to reject work they considered "offensive to the moral standard of the community."
Although they eventually relented and allowed all but one of the panels to be installed, their act of censorship led to a second exhibition of the works in an entirely new context.
Participants: Jan Gilbert, Debra Howell, Marcel Lesseaux, and Kristen Struebing-Beazley
Funded By : Art Matters, Inc.
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