Apparently, the concept that gays exists and that - God forbid - some people care about us and support us was just too frightening a concept to be allowed at Mormon controlled Brigham Young University. As a result, a student's fine arts project was quietly and without notice removed from the fine arts department art display at the University. At BYU, I guess the homophobes believe that if they make LGBT students invisible, somehow they will cease to exit. Sorry folks, but we're here and not going away. The artist, Michael, describes on his blog, My Journey, the nature of his project and what happened to it. Here's the project description (some of the paired photos are set out below) by its creator:*
These are some of the final images for my fine art photography project. These portraits are of students of BYU who identify themselves as homosexual and a person that supports them. With all of the dissenting views regarding this topic in the past few months I have felt very strongly about this project. The portraits will be shown in pairs. The idea is that there are gay and lesbian individuals not only in the Mormon culture, but also at BYU. I also chose to photograph someone who is a support to this person. This could be a family member or friend. This support person may also identify themselves as homosexual and both people may provide support to each other. I am not telling the viewer who identifies themselves as homosexual, because I hope the viewer will realize that placing a label with the portrait only creates divisions in our society and furthers stereotypes. It is my hope this body of work can be a vehicle for tolerance, support, love and change.
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I photographed all the portraits using similar lighting and cropping. I also used a tilt shift lens to achieve selective focus, so that the subjects eyes are the only part of the image in focus. This was purposefully done to force the viewer to look in the eyes of these individuals. I hope that through this project we can realize that all men (and women) are created equal in the eyes of God.
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Here is how Michael describes in his own words what happened to his beautiful and most thoughtful and (I believe) amazing project at the hands of the University leadership:
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Apparently the topic of homosexuality is a bit much for the BYU audience and my part of our Fine Art Classes show was taken down today. It seems that censorship is favored over support and love. This really saddens me. I found out because a friend of mine went to the show and said that my pieces had been removed and the show had been rearranged. While I knew this topic would be controversial (in fact I expected that this would ruffle some feathers) I never thought that they would bring it down. Also I wish that they would have asked me to remove it, or at least had the courtesy to ask that I remove it or discuss it with me prior to its removal.
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This project for me became a journey of truth and enlightenment. I see a bit of myself in each of these portraits. When looking at these images one may see their friends, their family, or a classmate. I admire the individuals who were brave enough to become the faces of this project – Thank you for your time and honesty. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This is an amazing philosophy that suggests that change starts within each of us. It is my hope that this body of work will be a vehicle for tolerance, support, love and change.
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Obviously, BYU is afraid to permit a true quest for knowledge and understanding and it obviously is a poor example of what a university should be all about. I applaud Michael's work and his courage in submitting the project to an obviously bigoted faculty.
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