Local Artist Censored: Printing Company Refuses To Release Abu Ghraib Images For Exhibition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2004
Not In Our Name
Media Contact: Max Diorio
Media Cell Phone: (510) 978-6702
Email: maxdiorio@yahoo.com
www.notinourname.net
LOCAL ARTIST CENSORED: PRINTING COMPANY REFUSES TO RELEASE ABU GHRAIB IMAGES FOR EXHIBITION
Clinton Fein, a San Francisco based artist is embroiled in struggle with Zazzle, a Palo Alto based printing company which is refusing to release the prints of his artwork.
Two pieces of artwork with political content, which were sent to print for inclusion in Fein’s latest exhibition, which opens on Thursday, October 7th at the Toomey Tourell Gallery in San Francisco, were censored by Zazzle in a last minute decision by the company.
A piece titled “Rot in Our Name,” created for an art show produced by the Not in Our Name Project in late June, contains a images of the much publicized photo of a hooded Iraqi man held at Abu Ghraib. Zazzle received Fein’s work in digital format and days before the show was to open, refused to release the prints, claiming that the company did not want to be associated with the images.
Jasmine Spacher, curator of Not in Our Name’s recent anti-militarism art show titled “Fear Will Not Silence Us” says of the controversy: “In this time of escalating attacks on Iraq and the new normalcy of torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, it’s important for these images to be displayed in public as a reminder of how crucial it is to end the occupation of Iraq immediately.”
Especially in these times, questioning, criticism, and dissent must be protected and upheld. Not in Our Name stands behind Clinton Fein and his right to express dissent and his contribution to the growing culture and climate of resistance to war and repression.
Fein’s exhibition, Numb and Number, opens at the Toomey Tourell Gallery at 49 Geary St. on Thursday, October 7th at 5:30 p.m.
Not In Our Name organizers and activists will be at the show and available for interviews.
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