The C-word

Are you following A Portrait of Visual Arts in Canada? If you aren't already, you should. I enjoy seeing new Canadian artists showcased and arts-related news in their blog. A recent post focused on an artwork that was censored by Facebook:

According to the blog, this artwork by Canadian artist Gregory Colbert "was removed by Facebook authorities as being 'pornographic'." There was a bit of an uproar in the media, and I am sure all over the web-verse, over the censorship of this image and others from Facebook.

I have mixed feelings on the issue.

Censorship has been a hot topic for, well, forever. Who has the right to deem content "inappropriate" to be viewed by the general public? What an outrageous thought that someone can name themselves king of the world, and tell us what artwork we can and cannot see.

But,

Although I am against censorship in general, you have to be realistic here. Facebook has the right to approve all of the content on its site. It is their website, and it is a free service-- so if you want to use that site to display your artwork for all the world to see (ahem, for free), you should play by their rules.  And Facebook has always had a zero-tolerance policy for nudity.

I have not seen proof that Facebook has called this image "pornographic." According to the article linked by the blog, Facebook responded to complaints stating:

"...we will remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep away material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity." 

Seems straight-forward enough. Yet apparently, there is also a question regarding whether or not this image contains nudity. Uh, well, I see a nipple, so yes my friends, by definition this image is indeed an artistic nude.

In my eyes it is beautiful, I love this image. It should be seen, as a matter of fact I would buy a print and put it in my home. But if Facebook doesn't want it on their site, they have reason to take it down. It is their domain, they make the rules. Facebook's expectations are clearly stated when one uploads photos, and you know what.. Facebook is great for a lot of things but its main purpose is not to serve as an art gallery. If you want your artwork to be seen, and not tampered with, put it on an art image hosting site.

That concludes my opinion. I would appreciate hearing others on the matter. I would like to see more from both sides. I am open-minded; perhaps my opinion could be swayed. I think this issue would make for an interesting debate. I will have to remember this for when I am teaching art in the classroom.