The Blue Mountains Council and the Land and Environment Court made a decision to order Ms Tenodi to remove her Wanjina Watchers in the Whispering Stone sculpture, quoting a “social impact and public interest” clause from the NSW planning law.
That clause does not apply to art. The “social impact and public interest” clause applies to places like casinos, night clubs, brothels, mobile phone towers and industrial premises causing noise, or emitting dangerous substances which endanger public health and well being.
Ironically, right across the road from the ModroGorje gallery and the “offensive” sculpture, there is a Katoomba RSL club, with an old cannon in front, that might be distressing for some refugees passing by, reminding them of the war they recently escaped. If someone wanted to shut the RSL down or have the offensive cannon removed, the council would ignore them.
This is the first time in Australian history that the local bureaucrats came up with the idea to misuse the planning law to censor art, because a few Aborigines claim it upsets them.
Art does and should have social impact. The best art makes people think. It encourages conversation. And it is in the public interest, at least in a democracy.
Documents in this book illustrate the double standard in Australian society today, and how Australian law is being manipulated for political purposes and to pacify angry Aborigines.
[From the “Forbidden Art, Politicised Archaeology and Orwellian Politics in Australia”]
Note: The great majority of people in Katoomba supported ModroGorje artists and their right to create art without fear of violence, and were appalled by the local council’s actions, as evidenced in the “Forbidden Art”. We thank them for their support. Special thanks to the Katoomba RSL club for their help and support throughout our ordeal, despite the threats they received.
Forbidden Art, Politicised Archaeology and Orwellian Politics in Australia – this book is a collection of articles by leading Australian intellectuals, and selected resource material related to Australian Aborigines and to the political and ideological situation in contemporary Australia.
Australian society today is marked by Aboriginal violence against non-Aboriginal Australians, and by the taxpayer-funded Aboriginal industry which condones it.
This reverse racism and discrimination, as well as the unthinkable ways in which the current system allows Aborigines to terrorise anyone who “offends” them, can be hard to understand.
Among the Hostiles – events between January and August 2010, revolving around the creation of the Wanjina Watchers in the Whispering Stone sculpture by Ben Osváth.
