Anti-NEA Display Dismantled in The House
- Artist/Author/Producer: Martin Mawyer, President of the Christian Action Network
- Confronting Bodies: House Speaker Thomas Foley
- Dates of action: 7/29/93
- Location: Washington, DC
- Description of the Art Work
- Martin Mawyer's display, entitled "A Graphic Picture Is Worth A Thousand
Votes," was meant to show that offensive work was being funded by the
NEA. This display included images from Joel-Peter Witkin, a New Mexico
based photographer, as well as Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano.
The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and The 18th Street Arts
Complex in Santa Monica, California were attacked also.
- Description of incident
- The display, arranged by the Christian Action Network to show members of
Congress that "offensive" art was still being funded by the NEA, was
abruptly banned from the Capitol before it even opened and then was
closed down by House Speaker Thomas Foley's office after fifteen minutes
in a second location.
"This is true censorship," complained Martin Mawyer, president of the
Christian Action Network, as uniformed guards in a House office complex
announced that his exhibition had to be dismantled. "Every one has
free-speech rights except us. If the members knew what they were
funding, it would be the end of the NEA."
The exhibtion was part of an ongoing campaign by the group to persuade
Congress not to fund NEA or to incorporate regulations on grant
monitoring during the next reauthorization hearing. Mawyer had invited
every Congressional office to view a series of sexually explicit
photographs of work allegedly funded by the Endowment, but when people
arrived on the first floor of the Capitol at the scheduled time, the
room was empty and Mawyer was announcing a new location.
Rep. Philip Crane (R-IL) had reserved the room, which is under the
jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committtee, but Reps. Sidney
Yates (D-IL) withdrew permission when they decided the exhibit violated
House rules on lobbying in the Capitol.
Mawyer said his group had secured a backup room in a House annex through
Crane's office. But the Speaker's office, which controls the use of
meeting rooms, said permission was never granted for its use. The
Speaker's staff also concluded that the purpose of the show would be
lobbying. "Their advertising - "A Graphic Picture Is Worth A Thousand
Votes" - was a clear indication," said Webb.
- Results of incident
- The display was considered a method of lobbying in inappropriate venues
in the Capitol and was removed.
Source:Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association