Bush, Cheney Images Reelected to Kennebunk Exhibit
After several rounds of debate and reconsideration and formal complaints from two patrons, the board of Kennebunk (Maine) Free Library voted November 8 to host as originally planned an exhibit of collages made from either discarded American flags or artwork that symbolizes the flag—including depictions of the faces of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
“American Portraits in a Time of War” features 22 pieces by G. Bud Swenson. It was originally scheduled to open November 1, but library Director Janet Cate received a patron complaint over the use of flags in the collages, the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald reported November 8. For that reason, and because the exhibit was planned for an area used by children and teens, Cate told Swenson in late October that the exhibit could not be displayed at all. Hoewver, Cate reversed her decision November 5 after Swenson met with members of the library board. After the meeting, Swenson praised the library to the Herald for taking “a courageous stance. This was a censorship issue.”
The exhibit was installed that same day, but Cate immediately had the images of Bush and Cheney removed. She said in the November 7 Portland Press Herald that the depictions did not meet “normative community standards [because] this is Mr. Bush’s hometown. It is very local, and that’s the community part of the normative community standards.” Supporting Cate’s decision, board President Kate Manahan said that in meeting with Swenson, trustees had discussed individual pieces but were unaware of the Bush and Cheney collages, explaining, “We were under the impression that the portraits were all like the ones we had seen, and not of specific individuals.”
Cate received a second complaint November 6 about the use of flag material as artwork, and stood by her decision to host Swenson’s show. Both complainants appealed to the board, which voted to retain the entire exhibit—and to reinstate the Bush and Cheney images. “There is considerable statutory and case law that supports this decision and that formed the basis of our conclusion to permit the exhibit,” Manahan said in a November 9 library press release. “The board trusts that our library and our community can handle this controversial exhibit and that, ultimately, we will be better off for embracing intellectual freedom.”
Manahan told American Libraries that she was proud of the board and the library’s handling of the controversy, which required extensive discussions among many parties. “It’s easy to give pat answers, but finding that area in the middle requires courage,” she said.
The library is planning a community forum to discuss the exhibit November 16, with representatives from the University of Southern Maine Art Galleries, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Maine Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Division.
Posted November 9, 2007.
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