Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has asked to remove a billboard illustrations with a historic photo of Selma’s notorious’Damn Sunday“Overhaid with the slogan of the Trump campaign” makes America great again. “The image had attracted the attention of the conservative media -outlet of Alabama 1819 News Earlier this week.
Designed by The Art Collective for Freedoms, founded by artists Eric Gottesman, Hank Willis Thomas and Michelle Woo in 2016, reproduces the Billboard artwork that reproduces the iconic image of the civil rights photographer Spider Martin 1965 from 1965 “Two -minute warning. “The photo recorded the moment before Staatsstroopers on Bloody Sunday on Bloody Sunday, when a police -mixed to the state leaders of leaders of civil rights Hosea Williams and John Lewis. Months later, the congress passed the Voting rightswho prepared the enforcement of 15th amendment law on votes and forbade voice discrimination practices.
Posted in a statement XMayor Reed called the ‘politized’ nature of Foroms, as well as the need to be careful with images of the ‘crucial’ legacy of Bloody Sunday in the civil rights movement under the reasons to remove the image from the billboard from the Billboard to ask ‘without delay’. “
“We must be extremely aware of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they run the risk of being considered politically charged,” wrote, a Democrat who became the first black mayor of Montgomery in 2019. “Our history deserves to be treated with the greatest respect and care, so that it unites us instead of dividing us as a community.”
The exact location of the Billboard Artwork in Montgomery for freedoms is unclear and could not be confirmed by the mayor’s office or the collective.
When reached by HyperallergicReed said that the work was part of a temporary public art installation that was financed and contracted by the city. He wrote X That the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) had bought the billboard.
Tracy Martin, the daughter of Spider Martin, who died in 2003, told Hyperallergic She gave permission for freedoms to use her father’s photo as part of a continuous collaboration with Thomas, one of the co-founders of the organization.
“I do not agree with the purchase of the fertilizers,” said Martin and called Reed’s guideline a “violation of freedom of expression”.
“These boards ask the question: when was America great?” Martin went on. “The Maga slogan has been clear for many years, and as far as we know, the person who has come up with it does not think that America is great now, but rather it was great during a different time in the past.”
In response to HyperallergicThe request for comments, for freedom of freedoms, co-executive director Woo said that the group ‘understands it[s] The pressure that cultural institutions are now below. ”
“At this highly politicized moment we continue to use to think about other moments in our shared history that help us understand us present,” said Woo.
In a statement to Artnews On Thursday, January 30, co-founder Gottesman The removal of the artwork in Montgomery called a “clear act of censorship”.
For freedoms, his Spider Martin Billboard in Pearl, Mississippi, was also asked wherever it was asked Disposal calls of the mayor of the city and the then Governor Phil Bryant. The Republican politician considered the Billboard as ‘racist’, according to The Monograph of the Collective 2024. The organization has installed more than 500 billboards since the launch.
In an e -mail to HyperallergicDrove the decision not to recommend the removal of the installation as “an act of censorship, but rather as an exercise to disconnecting the city about the material on assignment.”
“We respect the legacy of De Selma to Montgomery March, the impact of Bloody Sunday and the work of photographers such as Spider Martin in recording that history,” said in his statement Hyperallergic. “The city continues to commit itself to the preservation and elevation of this history in ways that include, educational and reflect the collective memory of the community.”
