Nudes by Sheila Albanese and Brandon Whipple
Date: 2002
Region: North America
Subject: Nudity
Medium: Mixed Media
Artist: Sheila Albanese and Brandon Whipple
Confronting Bodies: Brian M. Morgan, Moravia High School principal and William Tamaro, superintendent
Date of Action: June 2002
Location: Moravia High School, NY
Description of Artwork: Female and male nudes drawn from models
The Incident: Principal Brian M. Morgan did not allow Sheila Albanese and Brian Whipple to exhibit their nudes in a district-wide art show. School president Russel W. Riddel said that the school board was backing the decision, explaining it by the fact “that young children might not want to see these drawings."
Results of Incident: The National Coalition Against Censorship made an appeal to the school administration explaining both the laws of free expression and art history. The incident reached local media where the residents of Moravia expressed their sympathy for the drawings and questioned the school district’s decision. Eventually the nudes were exhibited in a separate area with black stripes covering the breast and genital areas of the models, an alternative proposed by Sheila Albanese. Some of the stripes carried the word “censored."
Source: The Post Standard, The Citizen, NCAC
