Extra, extra! Read all about it: contemporary art museum includes nude figure!

That doesn’t exactly have a newsworthy ring to it, but according to City Council President Clay Yarborough, the single nude woman portrayed in Angela Strassheim’s Project Atrium photography exhibit is an atrocity that should stop the presses.

When Yarborough walked into the Museum of Contemporary Art last week, he was appalled to see a photo of an eight-month pregnant woman laying naked on a couch. His outrage translated into a hasty email to the mayor’s office.

Yarborough insists that it’s his role to make Jacksonville a “family-friendly” environment. He seems to have disregarded the fact that Strassheim’s exhibit is entirely about the transitional phases we face in our lifetimes, particularly through childhood. He instead focuses on the horror of a child potentially seeing a woman with “bare breasts exposed and lying in a questionable position,” as he detailed in his email to the mayor’s chief of staff.

Yarborough demanded that the mayor respond to his complaint by retracting the over $230,000 in taxpayer funds that MOCA receives from the city of Jacksonville or present other possible actions.

“Unless Mayor Brown supports this inappropriate, pornographic display, and accepts that anyone, including children can enter and see it,” Yarborough wrote in his email, “I insist that you immediately cause to be pulled all funding designated for MOCA for the current fiscal year or otherwise explain how this will be addressed within 24 hours.”

I know how shocking and mystifying boobs can be to some, but really?

I hardly consider a nude, pregnant woman resting on a couch to be pornography. It’s an intimate portrait of motherhood, not a portrayal of something obscene.

When the exhibit opened on Nov. 22, it was to positive reviews and comments. Yarborough seems to have little support in his crusade. In fact, people are more upset about his actions than the artist’s.

Just as art has a long history of portraying nude figures, it also has a long history of attempted censorship, which is effectively what Yarborough is trying to do.

For example, in the late 1990s, artist Chris Ofili created what would be a troublesome work for him in the future: “The Holy Virgin Mary” (1996) incorporated elephant dung and images of nude butts in the portrayal of religious imagery. Due to the combination of both sexual and religious themes–much more controversial than a mother relaxing on a couch–the work created considerable buzz.

So much buzz, in fact, that when the exhibit with Ofili’s piece came to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, then-mayor Rudy Giuliani was so offended that he threatened to pull the museum’s funding if they did not remove the work.

However, the museum stood its ground, and, after a court hearing, it was ruled that the mayor and the city of New York had no right to retaliate in any way.

Fast forward to now, when another man in power is yet again trying to censor art that he doesn’t like. The difference is that the piece in question is truly harmless in comparison.

Tony Allegretti, the executive director of Jacksonville’s Cultural Council that granted MOCA’s funds, said in an email that Yarborough’s objection “could be viewed as an attempt to stifle artistic expression,” according to the Florida Times-Union.

Make no mistake: the front of making Jacksonville “family-friendly” is not the only reason Yarborough is acting on this. His actions are selfish. As a grown man he cannot handle a display of a woman’s breasts, and must instead revoke the privilege of experiencing art from the rest of us.

This attempt at censorship is out of line and ignorant, in that he’s trying to attack something that’s been a staple of art for centuries. Art, especially the art in MOCA, is meant to make a statement. Strassheim’s photo is contemporary art, and she and MOCA should not be punished by one individual’s distaste for our society’s current culture.

If you walk up the stairs to the other exhibits in MOCA, you’ll see several other nude figures. Should they all be removed too? Should MOCA be forced to pay a penalty for every additional nude figure it shows?

It’s disgusting that Yarborough is so offended by anatomy and reality that he can’t help but try to edit and censor it.

“I take great offense on behalf of the people of Jacksonville,” he wrote in his email to the mayor. Unfortunately, the offense that Yarborough has taken is not shared by the majority.

Last I checked, the citizens of this city were still autonomous individuals who could interpret art for themselves.

Now, the people are taking offense on the behalf of MOCA. The hashtag #IStandWithMOCA has surfaced, where people voice their opinion on the manufactured controversy and support the museum.

On Wednesday, there will be a rally in support of MOCA and in favor of freedom expression during Art Walk in downtown Jacksonville. Over 600 people have already confirmed their attendance to the event, proving that Yarborough’s way of thinking seems to be out of touch with the masses’.

His attempt to be the city’s knight in shining armor has backfired, and he overstepped his bounds with his brash demands. While Yarborough may be an elected official, his job is to represent the people, not go against the majority and threaten a major institution in the city. His out-of-touch, and perhaps out-of-date, perceptions may end up working to his detriment.

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