Happily Never After banned from Thirroul arts festival

Richard Perin's mannequin bride, with red-taped hands and what appears to be a niqab covering the face, was removed from Thirroul library and community centre about midday on Friday - seven hours before it was to have been placed on public display at the official opening of the Thirroul Seaside and Arts Festival.

The Mercury has obtained internal correspondence from a manager within the council, showing the work was banned after a council staffer warned festival organisers its display could breach a condition of the venue hire agreement.

"The ... festival committee, when considering whether or not to include the art work, asked one of my staff members her opinion and she said that if the committee had agreed to exhibit the work, it could be in breach of council's conditions of hire," the manager wrote.

In the correspondence, the manager points to paragraph 38 of the conditions, which guards against activities that "show bias against any ethnic group or breach state or federal legislation regarding discrimination, racial vilification or defamation".

The paragraph also provides that "activities should reflect community expectations and be in line with council's values".

The internal account differs from the contents of an open letter sent to the festival committee on Friday, in which council library manager Jenny Thompson claims the committee removed the art work "of their own volition".

The annual festival is organised by members of the Austinmer-Thirroul Lions Club.

Committee member Howard Whitesmith told the Mercury his group had ultimately made the decision not to show the piece, but that this was in line with "a rule in the agreement we have with the council, clause 38".

Mr Whitesmith said the committee considered placing an advisory warning beside the work and screening it, but couldn't find a safe, crowd-proof way of doing so on the festival's eve.

"So we reluctantly took the decision this morning to remove it," he said on Friday afternoon.

Mr Perin protested his work's exclusion from the festival in a letter to Wollongong lord mayor Gordon Bradbery on Thursday, accusing the council of "depriving intelligent, rational viewers of engaging with 'difficult art'."

In his response, Cr Bradbery responded by maintaining it was the committee's decision not to show the work, and suggested the family-based context in which the work was being displayed had been a consideration.

"As a result there may be different community expectations about what is acceptable to be displayed."

Mr Perin declined to explain the meaning behind his work, titled Happily Never After, to the Mercury.

Fellow Thirroul artist Paul Ryan suggested it was about "exploring complex current relationship between Muslim Australians and Christian or non-Muslim Australians".

Mr Perin,

Thank you for your email detailing your disappointment “that my art work for the Sculpture competition in Thirroul had been banned by a council officer”.

This is actually not the case.  Councils staff have had follow-up communication with the Festival Committee representative, confirming that the decision regarding which artworks will be displayed at Thirroul Community Centre as part of the Thirroul Seaside and Arts Festival rests with the Festival Committee, not with Wollongong City Council as the venue provider.

Specifically in respect to your artwork ‘Happily Never After’, we wrote to the Festival Committee that if they decide to proceed with displaying the work, Council is willing to provide advice regarding options for the Committee to consider, in relation to how it might approach location and signage of the work. However, the final decision about whether or not the artwork is displayed, where it is located and any signage that may appear, remains (as it always has) with the Festival Committee.

An issue that the decision makers may focus on is the context in which the artwork is being displayed. Unlike a specialist Art Gallery, the Thirroul Community Centre and Library is a multi use facility which is frequented by a range of users of varying ages and sensitivities. Furthermore the Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival is a broadly and family based community event. As a result there may be different community expectations about what is acceptable to be displayed. Additionally in defence of the concerns of organisers,  the conceptual drawing of your artwork attached to the application form to enter the arts festival, was not indicative of the work as submitted, which was potentially confronting and controversial in nature.

As I mentioned previously, Council has clarified with organisers that the decision to include your artwork in the display or not lies with them not Council.

To the Festival Committee, 

I’m writing to follow-up on a conversation I had with a representative of the committee this morning, to confirm that the decision regarding which artworks will be displayed at Thirroul Community Centre as part of the Thirroul Seaside Festival rests with the Festival Committee, not with Wollongong City Council as the venue provider. 

When we discussed the artwork ‘Happily Never After’, I indicated that if the Festival Committee decided to proceed with displaying the work, Council was willing to provide advice regarding options for the Committee to consider, in relation to how it might  approach location and signage of the work. However, the final decision about whether or not the artwork is displayed, where it is located and any signage that may appear, remained (as it always has) with the Festival Committee. 

The representative of the Festival Committee has subsequently contacted us to advise that the committee has decided, of their own volition, to remove the artwork from the festival competition. 

We are sure that the festival will prove successful, as it has in previous years, and look forward to continuing to work with you as a venue provider and sponsor of the event. 

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Thompson

Manager Library and Community Services