A comparison of two artists, Toni Morrison and Sally Mann,
based on issues of censorship that they have faced with their work.
In the cases of the two artists, censorship is often justified
through reasons that take their work out of their original context.
The media that places censors on Sally Mann's work claims that
it is child pornography, taking her photography out of the context
of family and candid portraiture. The school boards that ban the
reading of Toni Morrison's work claim them to be pornographic
through reasons that take their work out of their original context.
The media that places censors on Sally Mann's work claims that
it is child pornography, taking her photography out of the context
of family and candid portraiture. The school boards that ban the
reading of Toni Morrison's work claim them to be pornographic
and innapropriate to young adults. However, the issues of racial
and gender inequality that Morrison addresses in her work is
and gender inequality that Morrison addresses in her work is
a reality that most underaged minorities experience first hand.
In order to critique this censorship on their work, I reversed
the idea of contextomy in order to bring back the original
context and reveal the artists' true message. Some of the pages
have content with perforated borders so that viewers are
able to physically remove the censorship and criticisms to find
the layer of truth underneath.
the idea of contextomy in order to bring back the original
context and reveal the artists' true message. Some of the pages
have content with perforated borders so that viewers are
able to physically remove the censorship and criticisms to find
the layer of truth underneath.
This physical process shows how difficult it can be to understand
the message of an artist, but is also a satisfying act of a literal
deconstruction of censorship and liberation.
The voices of the criticism and the voices of the artists
are distinguished though the different typefaces.
Thank you!
