Att värna yttrandefriheten, på ett meningsfullt sätt

Osama Bin Christ, Priscilla Bracks, Australien

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"...To me this work is a cautionary tale about our fixation with crime, violence and catastrophe. Access to information is important and there are instances where this has been well balanced with the temptation to sensationalise. No war was declared against the Lockerby bombers. Instead they were extradited and tried for murder amidst media coverage that left few people with a lingering memory of their names. Similarly, Martin Bryant was moved to an inner cell in his Tasmanian prison to ensure his media attention did not turn him into a cult figure like Charles Manson. There is a wisdom in this approach that has been forgotten in the case of Bin Laden, and this lapse may have unintended, unwelcome effects in the future.
Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross comes from a larger body of work named after the image, called Making the Empire Cross. Each image in the series further considers the relationship between what we read, see and hear in our media, and what we believe or perceive as ‘truth’. The series covers a range of issues from misleading statements about weapons of mass destruction, through to our cultural fascination with violence (for example some works raise the question of whether a tour to a war zone the next extreme adventure holiday trend. Strangely when researching that part of the work I did find one person offering such tours.)..." Läs mer här!

Jungfru Maria i Burka, eller Fatimas fjärde hemlighet av Luke Sullivan, Australien

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"...The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians," said Prime Minister John Howard.
And Labour Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said: "I accept people can have artistic freedom, but I find this painting off, off in the extreme. I understand how people would be offended by it..." Läs mer här!