Alicia en el pais del amor (Alice in Loveland)
Date: 2001
Region: Europe
Subject: Nudity
Medium: Photography and Literature
Artist: Violeta Gomez
Confronting Bodies:
- A Spanish Army officer
- Judge Concepcion Ferrer
Spanish judicial authorities
Dates of Action: 2001
Location: Museo de Siyasa, Cieza, Spain
Description of Artwork: "Alicia en el pais del amor" (Alice in Loveland) is a collection of photographic portraits of children, inspired by the photographic work of Lewis Carroll.
The Incident: In 2001, Violeta Gomez held an exhibition titled "Alice in Loveland" at the Museo de Siyasa, in Cieza (Spain). It consisted of a series of photographs of female children (aged 7 to 10), most of which had been previously exhibited at the near town of Molina de Segura a few months before. Some of the pictures featured nude children.
After 20 days, the exhibition was prematurely closed as a result of the pressure by Judge Concepcion Ferrer following a report from a Spanish Army officer. Immediately afterwards, the judge confiscated all the photographs and ordered a raid at Gomez's house seizing all her prints and negatives, the exhibitions' leaflets, as well as her literary works, videotapes and some art books by well-known photographers such as Irina Ionescu or Yoji Ishikawa.
Gomez was charged with corruption of minors.
Results of Incident: The judge decided the investigation should be kept secret. Up to this day Gomez has not been judged nor informed of the case's development. The investigation is still secret and her works and belongings have not been returned.
Source: Violeta Gomez
