Artist Victor Quiñonez made plans with the University of North Texas (UNT) in January to bring his exhibition “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá” (“Not from Here, Not from There”) from Boston University (BU) College of Fine Arts to display for three months.
But UNT canceled the exhibit and sent Quiñonez’s art back to Boston the day before the opening, and speculation began that the cancellation was in response to the exhibition’s anti-ICE themes.
LegalClarity says art censorship is “the suppression, alteration, or prohibition of artistic works and forms of expression by an authority, typically when deemed objectionable, harmful, or inconvenient.” The National Art Education Association argues that stifling an artist’s freedom of expression can lead to a culture of conformity to what authority deems “acceptable.”
Joseph Smolinski, a professor of practice, art and creative technology and program coordinator at the University of New Haven, raised another concern about how an artist’s work might be impacted in the face of such interference.
“I think it elicits fear, and I think when creatives are afraid, they’re not comfortable to make the work to their full capacity,” Smolinski said.
Smolinski said he disagreed with UNT’s decision because censoring an entire art exhibit is not only problematic but also deprives students of a safe space to discuss and explore new and different ideas, even if some of these ideas may be considered controversial.
“I think our work is meant to challenge society and challenge culture and bring to light ideas that can sometimes be difficult to talk about,” Smolinski said.
Sophomore civil engineering major Elise Rehn agreed and said, “I feel like it’s someone’s freedom to be able to express what they want and that shouldn’t be controlled by anyone, really.”
Christopher Ritchie, an assistant professor in practice and graphic and digital design program coordinator, assigns a project in one of his classes that encourages students to create material that raises awareness to a social issue of their choice.
“In some of those types of projects, part of the goals of the work is to make someone a little uncomfortable,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie said that last year, a student turned in a project made to draw attention to harassment in the service industry. The student designed a series of three posters that depicted close-up images of a woman’s apron scrawled with derogatory remarks that these employees sometimes hear on the job. Some of the language used in the project was profane.
“The idea is, when you’re raising an issue that maybe is happening under the noses of everyone, sometimes you have to turn up the volume a little bit to make people notice, and I’m all for that,” Ritchie said.
Both professors said art is a process and that ongoing dialogue and feedback are important. Smolinski referred to this as the “critique process.”
“That could be really formal things like color, shape, form, line quality, things like that,” Smolinski said. “It could be construction methods, like how it’s held together or how the artwork is placed or situated or hung.”
Through this process, the professors can also ensure students aren’t unintentionally creating material that could be viewed as hate speech.
“It should be a place that is able to be open to discussing that, but also aware of the ramifications of how people could construe it,” Ritchie said.
“We try our best to not censor, but we try to encourage people to really think about how image can affect people in different audiences,” Smolinski said.
