A court in central Colombia decided to lift the suspension of the Women out of Sight exhibition which had generated controversy for its allusion to women’s private parts.
The exhibition by artist Maria Eugenia Trujillo will be allowed to continue in the Santa Clara museum in Bogota, after Leonardo Torres, President of the Administrative Tribunal of Cundinamarca, found that it did not breach any moral codes.
In an interview with RCN radio, Torres said that the art display did not violate any freedoms or principles of the Catholic faith, and that there was therefore no grounds to stop it from being presented to the public. Torres added that 83 petitions to ban art by Catholic protesters had been rejected.
In turn, the Ministry of Culture was instructed to re-schedule the opening of the exhibition.
Catholic groups in uproar at art display
The exhibition which features female body parts incorporated into religious symbols was suspended on August 27th of this year, after Catholic groups represented by Catholic lawyer and conservative politician Carlos Corsi, rallied against what they saw as an offensive artistic display.
In a letter to the Mariana Garces, Colombia Minister of Culture Catholic protesters described the proposed display by Trujillo as “bringing ridicule to the Catholic faith and openly attacking the Catholic community in the country”.
The Colombia Ministry of culture commented after the original ruling that it would support the ban, but did not approve of censorship.
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The artist speaks
The art exhibition consists of religious symbols and artefacts with women’s breasts and vaginas incorporated into them to represent the subjugation and historical abuse that women have been endured for centuries. It is an invitation to reflect on the meaning of the female body, which must be respected and guarded as sacred.
Trujillo said “If Woman is so important and so sacred, why not put her symbolically as an element of worship?”
In reference to the fact that the exhibition would be shown in a former convent, she added “The work ends up being an echo of the many women who lived there.”
Sources
- Levantan medidas cautelares que suspendian exposicion Mujeres Ocultas. (El Espectador)
- Mujeres Ocultas. El arte suversivo de Maria Eugenia Trujillo. (ADN)
- Mujeres Ocultas. Maria Eugenia Trujillo. ( Official site of Santa Clara Museum)
