23 Nov 20 | Artistic Freedom, News and features
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Maggi Hambling’s Statue for Mary Wollstonecraft, photo: Grim23, CC BY-SA 4.0
What would Mary Wollstonecraft have thought? The 18th century feminist, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, has been commemorated with a new sculpture that includes the figure of a small, naked woman. The woman is not, according to artist Maggi Hambling, Wollstonecraft herself, but a timeless everywoman. Indeed, the work is A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft rather than of her.
The reaction has been swift and almost unilaterally negative. Feminist authors who stand on Wollstonecraft’s shoulders have taken to Twitter to express their views to defend the oft- labelled “mother of feminism”. Imogen Hermes Gower said a chance to break with convention has been missed and Tracy King called the piece a “shocking waste of an opportunity”. Caitlin Moran sarcastically tweeted that she expects the streets to be full of statues depicting “John Locke’s shiny testicles, Nelson Mandela’s proud penis, and Descartes’ adorable arse”.
Meanwhile, Dianne Abbot MP tweeted: “Pleased to see the great feminist #MaryWollstonecraft honoured after 200 years. And it is in a lovely garden square in Stoke Newington. But what a disappointing statue. Tiny, shiny and completely inappropriate”.
Valid opinions, all. Debate around art is arguably what abstract artistic endeavour is all about. It is a form of expression as valid as the works themselves.
Where a line must be drawn is censorship.
Just a day after the sculpture appeared in North London, clothing, tape and facemasks had been used to cover up the female figure, who sits atop a large, amorphous silver mass like a star at the top of a Christmas tree. These efforts at censorship have since been removed, but they pose an interesting question: why does female nakedness, especially in conjunction with honouring feminist ideals, inspire a desire to censor?
My own thoughts on the reason the statue is controverial came quickly: female nakedness is linked with sexual objectification, and the idea that women do not exist in the world purely as sexual objects for male pleasure is a key tenet of feminism. The two are not happy bedfellows and their collision in this sculpture is at the root of the displeasure of its critics.
But this thought process seemed a little too easy. The truth is that the link between sexual objectification and nakedness, in art as in life, is not a truth universally acknowledged. It is not unbreakable; it is not unchallengeable. It is a construct of the patriarchy, and to censor the naked female form in art is to play into the hands of those who want to preserve the idea of women exclusively as sexual beings.
Caroline Banks, an artist who has written a blog about the sculpture, says that women should own their own nakedness: “There is an argument for reappropriation of that [sexual objectification]. Why should we be ashamed of our bodies because every time we have no clothes on we think we’re going to be looked at as a sexual creature, or not [if you’re not fertile]?”
She also explored how loaded the term “nudity” is. Several news outlets have referred to the sculpture as “nude”.
“That woman is naked,” Banks says, “she’s not nude”.
She explains: “That’s where the male gaze comes in a lot of the time. The idea of the nude in art is different from being naked. If you’re naked you just haven’t got any clothes on. Babies are not nude. People on the mortuary slab are not nude. They’re naked, they’re not nude.”
This idea of being naked as opposed to being nude, and the censorship of nakedness when it is loaded with the implications attached to nudity, is something that has also been explored in relation to the public exposure of female nipples.
Head of content at Index, Jemimah Steinfeld, wrote about this form of censorship in 2017. This was the year a case was taken the US Supreme Court by a woman named Sonoko Tagami, who was suing the city of Chicago over a fine she received for exposing her nipples in public, arguing that it is sex-based discrimination; men are not fined for the same action.
Censorship of female nipples on social media is also the source of debate and feelings of discrimination; Instagram continues to enforce a ban on female nipples, a topic covered in depth by The New York Times. The implication seems clear that female anatomy is sexual and therefore needs to be censored. The idea of parts of a woman’s body being exposed for reasons other than to sate the male gaze seems to have escaped the censors.
And back, then, to A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft.
It is a work of art, the majority of which is a roiling silver mass from which the naked figure emerges. The figure’s nakedness appears at odds with feminist values.
But the sculpture’s would-be censors have it wrong. Covering its nakedness merely upholds and strengthens its sexual objectification.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][three_column_post title=”You may also want to read” category_id=”15469″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
11 Nov 20 | Artistic Freedom Commentary and Reports, News and features, United States
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115539″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s What the Fuck!? podcast invites politicians, activists and celebrities to talk about the worst things going on in the world, why you should care and why you should swear.
In each episode, a guest – a free speech activist, a journalist, a celebrity or someone in the news – will tell listeners what is making them angry in the world and the words they say when they do.
Guests on the What the Fuck!? podcast will come from across the full range of opinion on the key issues shaping the modern world.
Each guest will be invited to talk about the work they are currently doing or admire relating to artistic, academic or media freedom.
The podcast ends with our guests telling us their favourite sweary expression and why it makes them feel the way it does.
In this launch episode, Index’s associate editor Mark Frary talks to photographer and artist Alison Jackson, who is renowned for her explorations into how photography and the cult of the celebrity have transformed our relationship to what is ‘real’.
She talks about her latest work, a sculpture of President Donald Trump in a compromising position with Miss Universe, the US elections and why the President needs the oxygen of publicity. She discusses the very real challenges of artistic censorship and how she challenged this by driving her Trump sculpture around the streets of New York, bringing the streets of Manhattan to a standstill.
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15 Oct 19 | Artistic Freedom Commentary and Reports, Digital Freedom, News and features, Young Writers / Artists Programme
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Chinese President Xi Jinping hunting for Winnie the Pooh, by Badiucao. The work is a reference to the blocking of memes mocking the Chinese president on Chinese social media sites.
Is the freedom the internet initially offered the arts to publish work and find audiences becoming more restrictive? Do artists feel free to express themselves through their work online, or is the fear of censure and online attack leading to self-censorship?
Index on Censorship and The Space are conducting a survey relating to artistic freedom of expression and the internet. We are interested in hearing from UK arts and cultural professionals to help us gauge current opinions and experiences in publishing creative content online.
This will help us shape our learning programmes and resources around this area and identify if there are trends or restrictions that you believe are impacting on the variety of work being published, shared and commented about online.
If you are a UK based artist or group of artists or work for a cultural, creative or heritage organisations that has published work online, we’d like to hear from you. The survey shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes and all of your responses are anonymous/anonymised.
Take the survey[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1571151423378-0d20d554-4cf1-4″ taxonomies=”15469″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
28 May 19 | Artistic Freedom, Artists in Exile, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”106990″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Anzhelina Polonskaya became a recognised writer and poet during the turbulent post-Soviet Union era. Inspired by the works of famous Russian writers, she became a self-taught poet and began writing seriously at the age of eighteen. A talented figure skater, Polonskaya decided to focus on developing her writing skills and poetic voice.
“There’s a lot of pressure and the sporadic income makes my life unstable,” she tells Index on Censorship of her life as a writer.
Her poetry, which is influenced by her small hometown of Malakhovka near Moscow, presents a unique and authentic interpretation of the political upheaval and corruption within the Russian regime. She has consistently protested against the Russian regime in her poetry, short stories, and essays. In one of Polonskaya’s most recent books, To the Ashes, she specifically draws from the themes of exile, home, war, authoritarianism, and personal relationships.
Her work has been translated and published in the USA and UK by Zephyr Press, a small press specialising in world literature and poetry, which has significantly added to her recognition and acclaim as a writer. She has had translations of her work published in some of the world’s most prominent poetry journals, including World Literature Today and Poetry Review. She also became a member of the Moscow Union of Writers in 1998 and joined the Russian Pen Centre in 2003.
“I went to every protest in Moscow, and after my family began to receive threats, I left the country,” she says. One of her most significant works, “Oratorio-Requiem” Kursk, in which she laments about the 118 lives that were lost after the sinking of the Kursk submarine, caused the Russian regime to target her as a threat. After the work was released in 2011, she went into exile in Germany from 2015 to 2017. Since then she has returned to Russia and is currently working to preserve the Russian Pen Centre. Although she is no longer allowed to publish her work in Russia, she continues to write for journals outside of the country.
Summer Dosch interviewed Polonskaya for Index on Censorship.
Index: Which poets have influenced your writing style the most, and which poets continue to inspire your writing today?
Anzhelina Polonskaya: My first collection of poems were undoubtedly inspired by the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva. Later in my career, Russian and American poet Iosif Brodsky began to inspire my poetry as well. I also admire the work of Eugenio Montale and Paul Celan. It took me a very long time to find my own voice in poetry, and it was a painful process. I found my own place in poetry when I was about thirty years old, which is late compared to other poets.
Index: What motivated you to pursue a career in writing instead of continuing your professional figure skating career?
Polonskaya: I can’t say that I made a decision to launch a career in creative writing. It was more that the “profession” came to me. It isn’t without its problems: There’s a lot of pressure and the sporadic income makes my life unstable.
Index: What main themes are you trying to communicate through your poetry, and how have these themes evolved as you have moved further up in your career?
Polonskaya: I reply with the words my publisher Zephyr Press used to describe my book To The Ashes: “Polonskaya’s second book with Zephyr reflects unflinchingly upon themes of exile and the anguish it can cause, home, war, authoritarianism and personal relationships.” I absolutely agree with my publisher’s statement. I am sure the world does not mean happiness for most people.
Index: How did the general public in Russia first respond to your writing, and how do they respond to it today?
Polonskaya: I only have a small circle of readers and have not published my books in Russia since 2008. Because I am outside of the literary process, nobody responds to my writing in the country.
Index: When did the Russian government start targeting you?
Polonskaya: The persecution began after the completion of “Oratorio-Requiem” Kursk, a score that I worked on with the Australian composer David Chisholm in 2011. It was an unpleasant topic for the president; therefore it was unacceptable within the political environment. Everyone knows me as a liberal writer. I went to every protest in Moscow, and after my family began to receive threats from unknown people I left the country. For some years I lived in Germany and gave many public talks, one being at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and did several interviews for newspapers. I have been invited to Barcelona for the anniversary of the death of Anna Politkovskaya. I have always protested against the Russian regime in my poetry, short stories and essays.
Index: Why was your project with David Chisholm an “unpleasant topic” and why was it viewed as unacceptable within the political environment”? Why did persecution follow after its completion?
Polonskaya: If you know how the crew on the Kursk submarine died, then you know that the Russian government refused to accept all the countries that could save it. It was a military object, and there was something to hide. As a result, the entire crew died an agonising death. Talk about the Kursk submarine in a country where the police regime has been in power for nearly twenty years, and you can receive a criminal case for any manifestation of freedom of speech. I think it is difficult to explain to a person in a free country that, under an authoritarian regime, they can follow you to a repost on the internet. David and I created a very frank score and a film, which became a political act.
Index: How do you continue to have an artistic voice in Russia from outside of the country?
Polonskaya: In Russia, I do not have an artistic voice that is greatly understood. My artistic voice is mainly established in Europe and the United States. I am very grateful to my translators for supporting my artistic voice. Now I am in Russia where I only have my seventy-eight-year-old mother who is ill. In October 2018 while I was in Germany, unknown people broke into my house in Moscow and stole all of my devices with interviews on them, my essay for the Swedish PEN-centre, my texts, my hard copies of interviews, and my protest photos. Nevertheless, I will continue to write for journals outside of Russia.
Today The Russian Centre is in a split stage. The current Pen Centre management group refused to be a part of an International Pen club. They created another literary organization called the Russian Pen. We, the initiative group, are trying to save the oldest Russian Pen Centre from disintegration and ask for the support of the International Pen Club.
Index: When you say that the Russian Pen Centre is in a “split stage”, what do you mean by that? Can you explain this stage a bit more?
Polonskaya: The Russian Pen Centre has been under a big scandal for over two years now. The situation is totally impossible. Those who currently govern the Pen Centre completely usurped power and created an organisation under the “Russian Pen Centre.” Instead of having a legitimately convened meeting, the president Evgeny Popov single-handedly conducted the reorganization of the Russian Pen Centre in 2018. In essence, his organisation has completely different goals than the Russian branch of the International Pen Club. Because of this, the Pen-Center has split apart. We, the liberal part, are trying to defend the name of the Pen-Centre. On 8 May, the president Evgeny Popov changed the locks in the Pen-Center building, which prohibited us from entering our own premises. We asked London to support the re-election of the president and the executive committee. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][three_column_post title=”Artistic Freedom” full_width_heading=”true” category_id=”29951″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
