Defaced Pride expo back on display

This article was last updated on July 1, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…’When you hear the narrative, you become gentler,’ said a woman who saw the defaced Pride exhibit again.

Starting today, the Pride Photo show will be on display in Maastricht. Some images of the show were defaced in different locations where it was held. Co-curator Jan Hoek hopes to see this happen more frequently: As long as you keep going, you won’t have to worry about it.

Photographer Prins de Vos’ shot of a naked transgender guy is on display as part of the show. An unknown individual daubed paint on the photograph in Vlissingen, cleaned it, and then re-painted it in Almere. Graffiti has obscured the genitals in the shot, making it impossible to view them.

Pride Photo’s director, Gijs Stork, says that the organization does not censor itself. An exchange of ideas with the exhibition is his primary goal. “Using these images, we demonstrate: this is what Dutch people do with these images. No one will like tampering with it now, since someone else has.”

The artist also hopes that this will prevent other artwork on exhibit from getting smeared. “The sting is now gone,” he said. Rather of focusing on the trans model’s genitals, “it should be about gender diversity,” says the author.

After beginning on April 1, 2022, Pride Photo will move around the Netherlands until January 1, 2023. Portraits of Polish LGBTI persons as well as senior homosexual men and women are part of a touring show on sexual diversity and gender identity. Transgender persons are underrepresented in photography and LGBTI individuals have an important role to play in the world.

It was also displayed in Amsterdam and Utrecht this year. There were no scuffs or scratches on the images.

Also, a photo of two football players kissing in Mexico was defiled in Vlissingen, where the exhibition was place, in May this year.

Co-curator Hoek admits, “I didn’t anticipate that.” The artist and Simomo Boujarra, the curator of the exhibition, were on the jury that chose the images. “Aside from issues with nudity, many people also struggle with lhbtiq-related issues. That group of football fans in the shot with the players was just well-groomed.”

But he also doesn’t get why some people are offended by a picture of a naked trans man. “I wonder whether a nude photo of David Beckham would have had the same effect.”

On display in Maastricht until July 21. There is no additional security provided by the municipality since it expects little disturbance. “There’s a good chance that the show will spark a debate. That is permitted, as well “As stated by one of their representatives.

Hoek concurs with this assessment. “It seems to me that many people become more tolerant when they learn about what it means to the photographer or trans guys in the images, for example. They may not agree, but at least they’ll see why we’re showing it.”