There’s been a furious backlash from cartoonists after a planned exhibition in Kingston Upon Thames, “Licence to Offend”, an exhibition of political cartoonists’ work, was unexpectedly cancelled. It appears the venue – Kingston Riverside – was concerned it might… offend…
The planned exhibition, organised by Whitelight Projects, now seeking a new venue, features work from celebrated newspaper cartoonists: award-winning Evening Standard cartoonist Christian Adams, Patrick Blower (Daily Telegraph), Chris Cray, J G Fox, Clive Goddard (New Statesman, Private Eye), Nicola Jennings (Daily Mirror, The Observer), Stanley McMurtry aka Mac (Daily Mail), Morten Morland (The Times), Rob Murray (Private Eye, Sunday Times), Ingram Pinn (Financial Times), Jonathan Pugh, (Daily Mail), Mark Reeve (The Mail on Sunday), Martin Rowson (The Guardian), David Simonds (The Economist), John Springs (The Spectator) and Guy Venables (Private Eye, The Spectator).
To the surprise of the organisers, photographer Paul Mowatt and artist Zoe Dorelli, the venue contacted them and ordered them to “take down the show immediately after our private view,” Then, Dorelli told The Spectator, the private viewing was also cancelled too – just hours before it was to take place this evening.
“I think when they saw it, they just thought it would be too offensive to the people working there, and they decided to pull the show,” Dorelli told the magazine.
“The cartoonists are pretty upset about being cancelled,” Dorelli continued “It’s not often that they get to have actual exhibitions. They do everything under extraordinary pressure in a very short space of time. I just think it’s incredible and requires it requires a lot of respect.”
In its news report on the cancellation, Free Speech Union notes the decision to pull the show has revived longstanding concerns among artists and free speech campaigners about the increasing reluctance of public-facing institutions to tolerate satire that risks discomforting viewers, regardless of political alignment.
In a statement, Kingston TownSq says: “Whilst we have not felt the exhibition was offensive, Kingston Riverside is a workspace, and our policy is to remain politically neutral. Once we were made aware that the art is not in keeping with a professional workspace, we respectfully asked the artists to remove them after the exhibition. We are still allowing the artists to hold their exhibition at the space for free, but the current art will not remain in place later.”
Needless to say, the decision has gone down like a lead balloon with the cartoonists whose work features, and elements of the press are having a field day reporting the baffling decision.
“Unfortunately, the venue hadn’t factored in the fact that all the cartoonists work for national newspapers,” says Dorelli. “It’s very unwise to annoy a cartoonist.”
Let’s hope a new venue, aware the cartoons have already been scrutinised and approved by editors, will snap up the exhibition soon.
If you’re a venue that isn’t easily offended, head over to the Whitelight Project and get in touch
Further Reading
• Daily Mail: Free speech row as cartoons are banned
• Free Speech Union: Free speech row after venue scraps exhibition of Fleet Street cartoonists
• The Spectator: Cartoon exhibition cancelled after art deemed too political
• The Times: Licence to Offend exhibition cancelled in case it causes offence (Subscription Required)
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions
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