Hopetoun Park artist Wayne Quilliam faces a ban from Facebook after two of his artworks were deemed “obscene” by anonymous users of the social media site.
Quilliam said he was “very hurt” that the two photographs, featuring textured female forms and taken in the Solomon Islands and at the Salt Water Festival in Coffs Harbour, had been flagged as “inappropriate”.
“If you don’t like the art, that’s wonderful – art is subjective, and I respect others’ opinions,’’ he said. ‘‘But to call it obscene hurts to the core.”
Quilliam was notified by Facebook on January 30 that his personal page was being reviewed. Many of his almost-5000 Facebook friends have protested against a ban.
“Even pages depicting or celebrating extreme sexual violence can take months to be brought down, yet an acclaimed artist who has a profound admiration for women, photography and expression is somehow fast-tracked for deletion for posting his work. It confounds me,” a Facebook ‘friend’, Siani Iglewski said. “Maybe if the models were wearing body paint in the style of a World Cup soccer jersey, nobody would notice.”
Facebook’s community standards page says while the company “imposes limitations” on displaying nudity, it also seeks to respect people’s right to share content of personal importance “whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo’s
David or family photos of a child breastfeeding”.
It says Facebook removes all content containing pornography as it violates the company’s terms.
Quilliam said 90 per cent of his supporters were women, with many women’s groups praising his art.
“We see photos every day of people with body parts hanging out,” he said. “Whereas in my works … nudity is masked by textures and colour. It’s pure art.”
The director of art and education at NSW’s Tali Gallery, Dianne Stevens, said the Salt Water Festival photograph (pictured) was on display in her gallery.
“I don’t feel it is in any way inappropriate – it’s a beautiful human body.’’
