It’s sometimes hard to know just what is going on in the US. For all its outward talk about free speech and standing up to censorship, increasingly this seems to be compromised by stories of books and art being removed from schools, libraries and galleries.
Sally Manns pictures can be challenging in some respects, but this mostly comes from the viewers protection onto them, and this in part is what the artists is forcing you to confront.
But there is no doubt about the artistic nature of this work and this knee-jerk reaction is very worrying.
The controversy began last week when local government officials and some visitors to the museum were outraged at Mannβs workβwhich features her own children in the nudeβand deemed that it constituted pornographic content. Politicians and local media outlets were quick to call for the closure of the exhibition and the pursuit of a criminal investigation targeting the artist as well as the museum in a seemingly orchestrated attack on artistic freedom and freedom of expression.
On January 6, the Dallas Express reported that βa warrant has been issued and executed regarding child pornography images at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The images have been secured as potential evidence and will not be visible to the public while the investigation is pending.β Both the artist and the museum have not made any public statements yet, and it remains unclear as to the number of art works that were seized from the exhibition.
source: Artist at Risk Connection