I was there on the Bundaberg Arts Festival opening night, trying to talk Dennis through his disappointment at not having the image included as part of the exhibition. I told him, ‘Good on you for stirring things up and challenging the traditionally conservative committee’. I said it was not fair that they made the decision on behalf of the public and that I wished they had left it up as part of the photographic section.
As regionally-practicing artists, opportunities to exhibit are few and far between and this is one that many local artists support and choose to put works into and in my opinion, the festival should support those artists by not censoring their work.
I have been excited and watched responses unfold at the coverage this issue has gained both in local media, but also at a larger, national level and through social media channels as I think again, it brings to the fore censorship issues which have often plagued art practice.
I do, however, object to the use of ‘Bundaberg doesn’t want you to see’. The Bundaberg Arts Festival is run by a small committee of very conservative members of our community – they have an agenda they are working to and it’s obviously not one of encouraging people to make up their own mind.
There is a community of die-hard traditionalists and landscape painters here – but that isn’t all that lies in Bundaberg. ArtsHub covered the Bundaberg Bohemians, Not Bogans exhibition which took place in early 2013 and this exhibition aimed to dispel the myth that Bundaberg was just full of bogans. And I hope this misconception can stay that way – just a misconception.
Regionally practicing artists don’t have the same support networks and systems that many of their metro counterparts do. Opportunities for critique, constructive criticism and a public avenue in which to exhibit their work are really important milestones in their practicing career.
Dennis Mealor had that opportunity taken away from him because of the actions of a few conservative ‘decision makers’ as part of the Bundaberg Arts Festival.
This festival is one small part of a larger festival called the Crush Festival , which is a month-long festival dedicated to the thriving arts and cultural scene in Bundaberg. If you check out the program you will find the Sydney Travelling Film Festival, zine workshops, poetry slams, orchestral concerts, children’s art workshops, panel discussions on the role of women in society, a cross cultural exchange between Las Cruces in New Mexico and Bundaberg region artists. It’s an exciting place to be for arts and culture in October.
There is a very progressive group of artists who exhibit and show at Dirty Linen Art Space which is the only contemporary, individually, artist run space in the Wide Bay for artists to show their works.
Helene Grove, a Bundaberg-based and actively practicing artist just won the national Portia Geach Memorial Award for women artists for her self portrait, one of the highest accolades for a practicing female artist.
Christine Turner, another Bundaberg-based artist just won the Flying Arts Regional Arts Award and a month-long residency at The Edge in Brisbane for her digital print titled Immersed.
There is a community of amazing artists that reside here and this issue, unfortunately was at the hands of a group of people who aren’t artists, see themselves as gatekeepers and unruly decision makers.
So, while this issue of censorship has been a really important conversation to have – please don’t tar the whole of Bundaberg with the ‘conservative’ and ‘prude’ brush, there are exciting things happening here, amazing artists and they deserve to be supported and heard and seen.
Image: Special Selection by Christine Turner.
