Anderson Gallery Post

      I feel that an important issue that was discussed at Anderson, though fairly briefly, was the idea of censorship and when and why that takes place. The concept of censorship also extended into unauthorized appropriation of a culture and thus censoring the original. These issues are clearly associated with the Larry Clark work we were able to see and how it has been displayed in the past in a way that it wouldn't offend or shock anyone but Tulsa is offensive and vulgar. The nature of the work warrants it being displayed in full and subtractions of specifically harsh portions are taking the work completely out of context and muting the original intentions of Clark. The extension of censorship by appropriation takes place in Latoya Ruby Frazier's work, at the very least, in her performance piece in response to the Levi's ad campaign. Levi's misrepresented the condition of Braddock and appropriated only the elements that would suit their campaign and because of their incredibly large audience, represented to the masses, a completely incorrect view of Braddock and silenced all of the social and economic issues taking place there. The principles are applicable to the processes I'm attempting to adopt by not censoring my work while it's in progress. I'm attempting to allow for any possibilities by not excluding anything until I've acquired a large cache of imagery from which I can then began to draw conclusions and slowly realize what should and should not be shown. These decisions should be made only after allowing for everything and then only be me, the artist, not solely a curator or gallerist.