Don't try to stifle discussion

Letters

Editor: I am curator of the exhibition by Carel Moiseiwitsch, the subject of debate in the Bulletin (Cover stories and editorials, July 25 and Aug. 1). I chose Carel's exhibition based on her long career as an artist dealing with serious subject matter in a provocative and exciting style. Her work has been shown extensively in the city, collected by the Vancouver Art Gallery and published in numerous publications.

This newspaper has called for pickets and a letter campaign to our funders and for us to be charged with hate crimes. This is largely on the basis of a cartoon book the artist produced as a tourist guide to the occupied territories. The comic is a touch brutal but hardly anti-Semitic. Earlier this month, the Province published a cartoon where a Catholic priest speaks out against gay marriage as he pats an altar boy's behind. Political cartooning is often harsh.

For the record, we are a nonprofit artist centre that has produced artists projects for the past 20 years. We do not support any political line but instead support artists and their work. Often artists take things into political territories – a reality we must face. But after 20 years working within the gay, aboriginal and artists of color communities, we do take care that our work doesn't promote ugly stereotypes or deal with images that promote hate. We defend Carel's show as not having done that.

Your call for a picket and the review in your paper did bring some of the Jewish community out to see the show. None accused us of promoting hate and many chose to identitfy themselves and thanked us for producing the exhibition. From these discussions we understood this was not a one-sided situation.

Carel, on the other hand, presents a very particular perspective on the issues and she must. That is what artists do. No war art tells both sides of a story. Picasso's "Guernica" doesn't tell Franco's side of the story. Art audiences know this and can make informed decisions on viewing and walk away with their own opinions. Many viewers from the art community come and marvel at Carel's work and walk away with impressions solely based on her esthetics. They don't care about the politics and the idea that this show alone will change anyone's attitude towards this issue is naïve and dangerous.

A call for pickets and revocation of funding are serious charges to level against a smaller nonprofit society. It seems to be an attempt to stifle discussion and limit the images we should see depicting this conflict. Charging these images as promoting hate hasn't been the reaction we saw except within your publication. There has been no yelling. People have responded in clear and thoughtful ways no matter what side of the conflict they were on.

Glenn Alteen
Vancouver

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