Freedom of Speech and the Cold Chill of Censorship

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Comments

First Contact says:

Such warm friendly colours! ;~)
I like them, it matches those in my avatar.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

Vincent Boiteau says:

nice statement, autobiographic? I like it!

-voted as "saveme" (from the Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

DoubleGrande says:

Semi-fauvist. Good find and well taken.

-voted as "deleteme" (from the Delete Me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

christinefelton says:

Graffiti that is self-aware.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

romanedirisinghe says:

Great colors. A nice departure from the standard group fare.
-voted as "saveme3" (from the Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

It is a photo of a painting. If I just took a shot of Blue Nude (first one that came into my head) would it be a good photo? If the photograph had added to the original with composition or an interesting juxtaposition (blah blah blah) then I could happily help vote it into the safe. As it stands, great graffiti.

-voted as "deleteme3" (from the Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

BLANKartist says:

I'd have to agree with gongemonge. We have tons of graffiti in Vancouver. But photographing it seems more like documenting. The message conveyed belongs to the original artist. But that's just me. :)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

christinefelton says:

Don't discount the art of documentary photography. Give 50 photographers the same graffiti'd wall to capture, and not everyone would do it with the same grace. Photography is an interesting art form because it both captures and creates reality. Thomas Hawk has done the work of making a composition, and if my hunch is correct, he's also brought PS skill to bear. I don't think this photo should be discounted just because the subject matter was the creation of another. (Would you feel the same way about photographing sculpture?) An endless discussion, this one.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

christinefelton says:

I just re-read your comments, gongemonge and BLANKartist, and I don't think anything you were saying conflicts with my previous post. Sounds like you would allow for documentary-style work if it added more than this one does to the original subject.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

BLANKartist says:

I think documenting graffiti is great. Maybe tomorrow it will be painted over and all we have left is this photograph. I just think like gongemonge pointed out, if I were to photograph the Mona Lisa, no matter how I cropped it, the effort still belongs to Da Vinci. My photograph really only exists because Da Vinci produced something worthwhile to photograph. If all you had to do to create an original piece of work is to crop somebody elses, then you'd have to throw out the copyright laws of "do not reproduce in whole or in part" theory out the window (not that I feel he's plagiarizing here). :)

A difference is let's say when Warhol reproduced the Mona Lisa, he added something to it. Just my 2¢.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

mochi.. says:

very nice colors!!!!!
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

Thomas Hawk says:

Although I enjoy taking photographs of graffiti, this photo was more taken with the specific purpose of sending a message to the administration of the deleteme group in a way that I'd hope might prevent me from being banned again.

As respectful dialog does not seem to be allowed at deleteme my hope was that an artistic statement might.

www.flickr.com/groups/deletemeuncensored/
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

torabisu says:

Well, despite the clever premonition of this photo's and your DM participation's demise, it is still just a photo of someone else's premonition of demise.

Voted as "deleteme" (from Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

pazzia says:

hey TH, a friend of mine randomly sent me your blog (or something) entry about getting stopped for taking photos. i thought it was funny.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

lawatt says:

Thomas, I don't quite understand -- you hope that the DM admins won't ban you, but your message is "I'm outta here"? those seem to be contradictory statements... I'm sorry to see that you've gotten SO worked up over this whole situation, but equating it to political persecution and oppression really is a serious case of hyperbole...

as for the photo, lovely colors, but doesn't get much past the message implied.

voted as "deleteme" (from Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

Nur2005 says:

a message? i wanna read more!
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

annaland says:

Thomas, I'd like to know what your experiences are with the group admins. Where might I go?

*****Never mind, Thomas. I found the thread.
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

zeegeezer says:

I wish I understood what was going on.

Voted deleteme6 (from Delete Me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

BartF says:

This would be good for the Graphitti Archaeology group
flickr.com/groups/grafarc

-voted as "deleteme7" (from the Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

powerbook.blog says:

it's just a message or a grafitti. aha.

-voted as "deleteme8" (from Delete me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

Jim Skea says:

Incoherent.

Voted deleteme9 (from Delete Me! group)
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

dooda says:

hate the font, don't really get the message, and that's saying something because there is a lot that I don't get.

deletmee
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )