Art censorship strikes Cowley Road again

A group of local artist were told “you can have a free reign” to paint murals on a wall on Cowley Road owned by a local estate agent in Marston Street

After deciding to illustrate a poem written by local Poet Nyarai Humba and spending many hours researching photographs they then spent two days in the freezing cold painting the mural.

Over the weekend they had so much public support for the mural, the artists were constantly fed mince pies, cups of tea and mulled whine by passers by as they painted. So you can imagine the shock and horror they experienced to find the poem had been painted out by censors the day after it had been finished.

The original mural

The censored wall

Artists comment

The three wise monkeys

The Myth of Third World Debt

I hear tell
that the ‘West’ claims
‘Third World’ countries
owe them a debt.

The white people them
They come to our countries
they unleash
upon we
the holocaust of slavery
the evil, parasitic, violent process
them call colonization.

What this means is
them rape Mother Africa
took her children to use as donkey
went right inside Mother Africa belly
and steal her resources
send them back home
to the ‘west’.

We the Africans,
funded the industrial revolution
with our blood, sweat, and tears and
Life.

So I don’t really understand
what the ‘west’ means
when them talk
‘bout ‘Third world debt’
I believe them have no shame
I know they full of untruth
they lie to themselves constantly
cause truth will kill them fe true.

I ask you to reconsider
who owes whom?

The west owes Africa
a debt so great
them can never
fully repay.

Though we may not say it,
don’t think we do not see it
We are silent
because white men talk too much
all in aid
of hiding the truth.

Third world debt
is a fiction of
white mans imagination.

Nyarai Humba

Edward Boden

Additions

This is the second time this has happend

20.12.2005 23:13

Another public art work was censored just a few weeks ago on Cowley Rd. When I walked past and saw the poem I thought it was beautiful and a real addition to the vibrant atmosphere of Cowley rd. I hope it will be restored soon and we will see many more of these wonderful art works.

The last censorship was reported here:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2005/11/327887.html

Hamish Campbell
mail e-mail: hamish@undercurrents.org
Homepage: http://www.undercurrents.org

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

freedom of expression!

21.12.2005 08:33

That is outrageouse!
I havent seen the mural yet but hope it gets restored before i do.
Whats happened here is discusting, I am appalled.I have read the poem and cant find anything offensive about it at all, its an issue that needs to be raised a lot more often if anything especially with the state the world is in today.How else will we ever make progress if free speach is denied???

Roger Shaw

WOT?!

21.12.2005 08:58

That sux!It aint a good idea to piss off the local graffers!
Respect to them dudes whom dun the piece!!
Im down wi that!

ZOMBY THE INSOMBY

Bring it back!

21.12.2005 09:27

Yes I think the artists should just repaint it.

Simon

Fantastic Poem !

21.12.2005 11:04

Love it!
That's one of the best poems I've read.

Jess

Graff

21.12.2005 11:22

Send in the Graffiti Protection Squad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jamie J

GAGGED!

21.12.2005 11:24

could not beleive that someone felt threatened enuf by the historically correct poem to cover it with paint. The poem is not rude or racist, it justy asks people to think about the false reality that is imposed on us and one tha we uncritically accept.Pass poem to yr mates and find ways to protest against the suppression of local politically conscious artists. Where oh where is my poetic licence! Warriors against ignorance, corporate bullshit and current global genocide by the establishment unite and agitate. one love one heart one inity. In the forward!

Nyarai Humba (poet)
mail e-mail: sistanyarai@hotmail.com

I'll print it

21.12.2005 12:54

This is an outrageous piece of censorship, but very strange that it seemed to be specifically against the poem and not the imagery. Not a mindless act - so why?

Perhaps this would be a suitable poem for The Nail, the poetry magazine I organise. If the poet and artists are into it, I can consider it as a submission.

Dave Todd

Dave Todd
mail e-mail: davetodd@hotmail.co.uk

ridiculous

21.12.2005 17:24

This is completely ridiculous. What are these people afraid of? A bit of poetry? Or was it just a tad too political?

Shame on them.

Robin Foster

Dialogue?

21.12.2005 17:41

It is a great shame what has happened here.
Obviously the mural only works with the poem intact,otherwise the hip-hop lettering and shining faces by themselves leaves the mural giving the absolute opposite message as to what was orrigionally intended.
It would be good to know exactly why it was censored.
I really hope this can be rectified,as a lot of painstaking work has been destroyed already.

Steve

Whodunnit?

21.12.2005 19:21

Who actually painted out the poem? Was this an action by 'officialdom', eg, the council or whoever it was originally sanctioned it, in which case presumably they have made some kind of statement in a local paper or something attempting to 'justify' their actions, or was it some kind of autonomous or semi-autonomous act, eg, the work of local fash or whoever??? Or some lone individual trying to be a smartarse- the follow up imagery looks derivative of Banksy, amybe they painted out the poem in order to engineer a situation where they could 'make a point' about censorship?

Whatever, it would be useful to get the local council to either admit or deny that they blanked it out.

Herby Spiral

munkeez

22.12.2005 13:48

Shit ive been rummbled!!

Robin Banks

legals

22.12.2005 20:30

this is why graff artists dont ask permission!!

dondi

so have i got this rite?

29.12.2005 14:49

someone may have blanked the original poem in order to make a point re censorship, or perhaps the claim that someone did was itself a spoof.

Strange times we live in.

I suppose the blanking might even have been done by an anti-racist fed up with the substitution of race for class. But then, in these times, nothing is what it seems.

david murray

just to put things straight

15.04.2006 11:34

the poem was censored by the guy who gave us permission to paint the wall in the first place. then we painted the hear no evil, see no evil etc monkeys in order to make it obvious what had happened as without the poem it gives directly the opposite message.

xxx

How dare you!

28.04.2006 16:38

We both agree this was a GREAT poem. At the moment our high school LA class is doing a project on things we agree or disagree with. Mary and I have picked art censorship. We believe that most art shouldnt be censored as it is a personal expression. Though the poem could have be offensive, idividuals are entitled to their own opinions. We think that this poem was meaningful and we are using it in our project to show that art is beautiful, not something to be painted over.
Thanks for your inspiration! Please email us back!
-Mary and Emily
Ballard High School
Class of 2008.

Mary and Emily
mail e-mail: dtsvmsejs@comcast.net