User:AlejandraSantoyo1/sandbox

Stopping Censorship in Art

Female Artists’ Uncensored Artworks

Censorship in art has been a norm for thousands of years, and similarly, artists have been challenging art censorship for thousands of years by creating what many would consider “provocative” artworks. Stopping art censorship would allow for the art to travel to more audiences (and thus move and affect audiences), it would promote freedom of expression, and it would allow artists to explore new realms of creative expression. Contemporary art that addresses issues of gender and the body is not taken seriously and worse, is underrepresented in museums and public displays of art. Artworks that are considered inappropriate, or otherwise known as "work[s] of 'disturbation', are essential in the art world, in culture, and in museums because they start conversations amongst viewers about social equality and acceptance(Henley, 39). An example of an artist who consistently created artworks that were uncensored and considered provocative is Polish female artist Katarzyna Kozyra. One of her art works that challenges censorship  is her series of photographs in which she poses naked while suffering from lymphatic cancer to bluntly, candidly, and openly share the visual effects sickness has on the body. Kozyra allowed for her naked and cancer-suffering body to be photographed because doing so proves to viewers that a “sick” body is just as normal, valuable, and beautiful  as a “healthy” one. The kind of message Kozyra conveys through the photos of her unfiltered and uncensored body is one that would be shown all over culture, media, and museums if art censorship was not so persistent and continuous today.

Censorship in Art Education and Art Schools and Public Art Displays

Art censorship is not only ever-present and continuous in art culture, musumes, and public displays of art, but it is also very much enforced in art education, especially in the education of younger students. Drawings, paintings, and anything classified as a work of art that showcases objects considered inappropriate are considered “work[s] of ‘disturbation’”, especially in schools and in the education of young children(Henley,39). A work of disturbation can be defined as any artwork which provokes or disturbs a viewer. David Henley published a paper about the censorship of art in education. In his writing, he discusses that art is much more censored and supervised in the education of younger students, whereas provocation in art and the uncensoring of art is common in the education of older art students. Naturally, educators avoid exposing younger students to subject matter that is considered profane. Inappropriate, and uncensored. Henley states that when younger students produce artworks that showcase objects and subjects people are sensitive to (such as “garter clips, sanitary napkin[s]”, and gender) in school, the artworks are considered less-than a work that lacks those deemed inappropriate subjects and objects (Henley, 39). Henley argues that certain objects, topics, and images should not be showcased in artworks at schools with young students. It is arguable, however, that an artist’s work should not be removed or not considered valuable for public display because of its content. A work of art is a form of the artist’s freedom of expression, and removing an artist’s work because of its “profane” content strips not only the artist of their creative expression, but it removes the art’s opportunity to teach.

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