Reportage (Exhibition)

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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:

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