For Immediate Release: August 14, 2008

BANNED & RECOVERED: ARTISTS RESPOND TO CENSORSHIP

San Francisco Center for the Book and the African American Museum and Library at Oakland Present an Exhibition of Over 60 Artists

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In a first-time collaboration, the San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB) and the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) are presenting the exhibit Banned and Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship, which runs from August 15 – November 26 in San Francisco and from September 5 – December 31, 2008 in Oakland.

Curated by Hanna Regev, the exhibit features work from more than 60 artists working in a variety of media. With most artists interpreting a banned book of their choice, the project provides a unique forum for visual artists to respond to the suppression of literary art. The exhibit, with different work on display at each location, will run through November 26 in San Francisco and December 31 in Oakland. Participating artists include Jody Alexander, Michael Bartalos, Guillermo Bert, Sandow Birk / Elyse  Pignolet, Eva Bovenzi, Milton Bowens, David Broom, Jonathan Burstein, Victor Cartagena, Enrique Chagoya, Alejandra Chaverri, Mitchell Confer, Luis Delgado, Brian Dettmer, Emory Douglas, Ala Ebtekar, Jordan Essoe, Rodney Ewing, Terri Garland, Beth Grossman, Liz Hager, Art Hazelwood, Charles Hobson, Justin Hoover, Mildred Howard,  Woody Johnson, Richard Kamler, Lisa Kokin, Barbara Kossy, Naomie Kremer, Mary Laird, Patricia Lenz, Jose Ramos Lerma, Malcolm Lubliner, Kara Maria, Mary Marsh, David Molina, Sasha Mosalov, Wendy Miller, Barbara Milman, Doug Minkler, Eileen Moderbacher, Daniel Newman, Penny Nii, Priscilla Otani, Nigel Poor, Roberto Rovira, Joe Sam, Jos Sances, Elizabeth Sher, Vered Shomron, Anne Siberell, Livia Stein, Hadi Tabatabai, Tim Tate, Sandra  Ortiz Taylor, Bryan Keith Thomas, Kathleen Walkup, Kazuko Watanabe, Tanya Wilkinson, Noah Wilson, Nancy Worthington, Jan Wurm.

Banned and Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship is timed to coincide with Banned Books Week (September 27-October 3), an annual event sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). Banned Books Week began in 1982 as a response to challenges and threats posed to intellectual freedom in the United States.

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According to Steve Woodall, SFCB artistic director, "As an organization dedicated to free artistic expression and the future of the book as a work of art, we're delighted to be co-hosting this exhibition. In an election year, with the future of the Supreme Court at stake, it is particularly timely, and AAMLO has proved to be an ideal partner in this undertaking."

Books that have been suppressed constitute a shockingly wide selection, ranging from colonial-era novels to acknowledged contemporary classics — books such as Fanny Hill, Tom Sawyer, The Color Purple, and the Harry Potter novels. "What's most troubling," says AAMLO chief curator Rick Moss, "is how arbitrary the process is. In keeping with the missions of our two organizations, we all felt this was the most thought-provoking and appropriate way to explore this issue, while dovetailing with the ALA's 2008 theme 'free people read freely.'"

Curator Hanna Regev works with many Bay Area cultural organizations and art galleries, producing public programs in history, art, and museum practice. Regev serves on the board of the First Amendment Project, and is a past president of the Northern California Council of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Regev’s view is that: "Collectively, the work initiates an important undertaking—the recovery of fragments of our censored history. We felt that the pairing of visual and graphic artists with these banned and threatened books was a natural one. After all, what better group to interpret suppressed works than visual artists, who are already so attuned to the threat of censorship. The show is a powerful reminder of the fragility of our freedoms, many of which are being chipped away by the Patriot Act. It is a powerful testament to the irrepressible creative spirit."

Public programs in conjunction with the exhibitions:

Four panel discussions have been designed specifically for the exhibit, addressing a variety of topics. All are free to the public.

Sept. 28, 2 pm, San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium: Dispelling Dirt: Sex, Gender and Censorship

Artists Kara Maria, Nigel Poor, Jan Wurm, and Alejandra Chaverri

Oct. 18, 3 pm, AAMLO: Mark Twain and the Censors

Victor Fischer, editor Mark Twain papers, Bancroft Library; artist Milton Bowens

Nov. 22, 3 pm, AAMLO: Literary Works on Trial

Jan Wurm moderator; David Greene, Director, First Amendment Project; artists Richard Kamler, Eileen Moderbacher, Justin Hoover, Barbara Milman

Dec. 6, 3 pm, AAMLO: African American Writers and Censorship

Jeanne Powell, poet; artists Emory Douglas, Favianna Rodriguez, Bryan Keith Thomas

About the Organizers

The San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB) Book is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring and encouraging contemporary interpretations of the book as an art object, as well as preserving the traditional art of book-making. The Center provides both a home for Bay Area book artists and a place where the wider community can discover book arts.

Location:
300 De Haro Street
San Francisco , CA 94103

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Contact:
Colleen Stockmann
(415) 565-0545
info@sfcb.org

The African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO), a division of the Oakland Public Library, is dedicated to the discovery, preservation, interpretation and sharing of the historical and cultural experiences of African Americans in California and the West for present and future generations.

Location:
659 14th Street
Oakland , CA 94612
Contact: Rick Moss
(510) 637-0200
moss@oaklandlibrary.org
www.oaklandlibrary.org/AAMLO

The exhibition is supported in part by the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund Grants for the Arts, the Book Club of California and individual donors. Program support has been provided by the Oakland Public Library, the Friends of the Oakland Public Library, the San Francisco Public Library, and the Mills College Center for the Book.

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