ANGER OVER GAYWISE FESTIVAL CENSORSHIP AT HAMPSTEAD TOWN HALL CENTRE
Exhibition artwork covered up over ‘child protection issue’
Published: 30th December, 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
A GALLERY worker has told how she was ordered to cover up art at a gay festival due to a “child protection issue”.
Staff at Hampstead Town Hall Centre in Belsize Park deemed that the pieces – among them an image of nude women and another with the slogan “Never Mind the Bollocks – here come the Trans People” – should be covered with brown wrapping paper and masking tape.
Jane Hoy, a volunteer at the Gaywise Festival, challenged the censorship decision over the 10 pieces, claiming it breached equality standards.
Gaywise, known as GFEST, is now in its third year and has a number of high-profile backers including Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Ms Hoy said: “I was shocked. It looks like censorship based on homophobia. None of the images is particularly graphic. I would love to know the criteria or guidelines for doing something like this especially as the group that runs [Hampstead] Town Hall claims to be an equal opportunities charity.”
There were 21 works on display in the Centre, which was being used as one of a number of venues for the duration of the fortnight-long festival which ended earlier this month.
Other exhibits which were covered included a ceramic titled the “Pussy Portfolio Mug” which the notes describe as “looking to reclaim words for the vagina” and another, “One Day This Kid (20 years on)” which documents the homophobic abuse a young man is likely to experience before he dies.
Ms Hoy added: “It seems very short-sighted indeed. I’m interested in education and I think these pieces would have been a good tool to engage young people about issues surrounding homophobia. Positive attitudes to gay people evolve from these sorts of discussions. This should be about letting people make their own choices.”
Ms Hoy’s comments have been backed up by GFEST’s artistic director Niranjan Kamatkar, who said: “We have written to Hampstead Town Hall trustees and board of management to seek their official response but it feels as if they are ignoring us.
“It has been a good learning process for us but also historic mainstream arts and community venues like this need to face the issues in a more balanced way. In 2010, initiatives like GFEST need to be encouraged by more mainstream venues rather than inflict censorship.”
GFEST said the experience was “traumatic” adding it was close to pulling the exhibition altogether, only staying because of a lack of alternatives.
Celia Greenwood, CEO of Interchange Trust, the company that manages Hampstead Town Hall, said: “We felt that some of the images were inappropriate for young children, who were coming with parents on weekends and had to walk through the atrium where the exhibition was to get to classes.
“The decision was made in agreement with exhibition organisers. Some of the images were very explicit. Only one of the images was censored in the week when the exhibition was open to the public.”