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| Down Under |
| Christ-like Osama image stirs debate |
| 2007-08-31 |
| Artworks depicting Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in a Christ-like pose and a statue of the Virgin Mary covered in a burqa have caused a stir in Australia after they were showcased in a prestigious religious art competition. ‘Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross’ by Priscilla Bracks is a “double vision” print that depicts both Jesus and Bin Laden. Luke Sullivan’s ‘The Fourth Secret of Fatima’ is a statue of Mary, her head and torso obscured by a blue burqa like the one Afghan women had to wear under the Taliban. The artworks were among more than 500 entries in the Blake Prize for Religious Art, and have been included in an exhibition at the National Art School in Sydney. “The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Thursday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. Opposition Labor leader Kevin Rudd also criticised the artwork. “I accept you know people can have artistic freedom, but I find this painting off, off in the extreme. I understand how people would be offended by it,” he said. Australia’s 20 million population is overwhelmingly Christian and the print was condemned by the Australian Christian Lobby. “It’s really unfortunate people take liberties with the Christian faith they wouldn’t take with other religions,” Lobby spokeswoman Glynis Quinlan told reporters. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 "Jesus Akbar", N Guard, that is the best, thanks! |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2007-08-31 18:20 |
| #8 What, no Piss Christ? These wankers are slipping. “The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Thursday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. Too right! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-31 17:07 |
| #7 Third rate hacks looking for an easy way to go bigtime. Probably the darlings of the Aussie Art World now... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-08-31 15:39 |
| #6 Wow...Shock Art. The humanities version of the beach bully who kicks over sand castles. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2007-08-31 15:31 |
| #5 Having had my religion insulted, I shall now have to follow the commandments of my Teacher and ... ... forgive them. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-08-31 11:47 |
| #4 The images do rather graphically illustrate the differences between the religions. And, are considerably less offensive than the reality. Not to mention that Jesus was a hard-working carpenter, a true man of the people, unlike that spoilt rich boy, Osama bin Laden. And Jesus' mother walked freely among the people, unlike Osama's multiple female parents. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-08-31 07:46 |
| #3 From the article: "Another blogger, Marc, praised the artworksÂ’ shock value. 'Art is supposed to provoke thought and debate...to offend you...'" Yeah, all the great artists have striven to make your stomach churn. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2007-08-31 05:12 |
| #2 "I would like to direct this to the distinguished members of the panel. You lousy cork-suckers. You have violated my fargin' rights. This suminonbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens, like me, could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin' ice holes, like yourselves." We need to put Roman Moronie in the picture files. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-08-31 01:35 |
| #1 You have insulted my religion, heretic wench!! For that you will have to Semi-seriously, the Church needs to do ... something. It just isn't the same without the aggressive machinations of the Jesuits, and the dreaded Holy Inqusition(tm) frying the odd heritic. |
| Posted by: N Guard 2007-08-31 00:31 |