My thoughts in this week’s blog go to all those who were killed in Paris last week in the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices. I pause for a moment.
I would describe myself as a ‘pacifist anarchist’; I am against all acts of violence, war, terror and intimidation, yet I am fervently against any person, state or religion telling me what I can and can’t paint, write or do. I believe that virtually all humans hold an inherent code giving them the choice to do the right thing. This is too often ignored through indoctrination, fear, greed, ignorance and laziness – think how much easier it is to actually or metaphorically ‘pull the trigger’ to solve a problem than discuss it.
It is now two and a half years since I returned to work as an artist and in this time I have developed an uneasy feeling that in this so called ‘liberal and enlightened’ society in which we live censorship is more prevalent than we think or care to discuss openly. Yes, we may not be locked up, imprisoned, attacked or our liberty taken away if we create a piece of work that might, for whatever reason, ‘offend’, but the insidious labelling, rejecting or locking away of works, seems to me, out there and growing.
Maybe I am wrong, maybe it is the self-doubt about my work that feeds this, but I do, and have felt, that if I use certain types of images and words that they will be censored ( I personally believe through ignorance or intolerance) and I find myself subconsciously self-censoring it. A true concern in the making of my work.
