Reportage (Exhibition)
Artist: James Nachtwey, Jodi Bieber, Francesco Zizola, Raphaela Rosella, Andrew Quilty, etc.
Year: 2013
Date of Action: May 25, 2013
Region: Australia
Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Subject: Violence
Medium: Photography
Confronting Bodies: Destination New South Wales (Tourist Authority)
Description of Artwork: A public exhibition displaying the work of internationally acclaimed photojournalists; the show covered everything from scenes of war-victims to natural disasters to landscapes.
Examples of censored photographs:
(Image at right) Paula Bronstein, from the collection "Afghanistan: Between Life and War"
James Nachteway, "Scarred Man, after the Rwandan Genocide"
David Burnett, "The blood of the latest martyr, near the University"
Andrew Quilty, image from "Victorian Bushfire Aftermath"
Raphaela Rosella, "Tamara's Pregnant Belly"
Conor Ashleigh, image of a young girl brushing her hair
The Incident: Hours before the exhibition was arranged to go on display, tourist authority "Destination New South Wales" demanded the removal of some photographic works. Nearly half of the participating artists--15 out of the 39 photojournalists--had work censored and excluded from the exhibition. Defending its decision, the tourist authority shared that the censored photographs were "too distressing" and "not family friendly".
Results of Incident: To protest the incident, some contributing artists withdrew their work from the show. The photographs deemed "too distressing" were isolated from the other works and placed in an "indoor setting", where they were made available to visitors.
Source:
• http://reportage.com.au/festival/
Additional source: Arts Hub
