Newsletter won't print professor's art
Nude photographs would be offensive to elderly audiences, spokesperson said
Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: News
By Monica Kreber
Mark Hamilton was all set to represent the state in an art exhibit at the University of South Carolina in January 2008.
The associate arts professor sent in information about himself to Winthrop's University Relations so that they could run a story on the exhibit. He also sent the department three of his images.
Then he was told the story would still run but not his images because they displayed nudity.
Hamilton said about 13 different artists were chosen to represent the Southeast at the exhibit, and he was one of the two photographers chosen to represent South Carolina alone. He notified University Relations to run the story because he said he thought part of their job was to promote achievements happening at Winthrop.
"For a faculty member, they should be happy that my work is out there and representing the school," he said.
University Relations news and media services manager Judy Longshaw said the images caused concern because of the type of audience that reads the e-newsletter.
"We did have some concerns that the subject was nude," she said. "Particularly since the e-newsletter goes to elderly alumni and prospective high-school students."
Hamilton said the situation is censorship because his images are not being used due to the nudity in them.
"I think any work, if it's advancing, is going to attempt to become controversial," he said. "If it's something that's out there, hopefully it's going to be controversial."
Hamilton said he thinks University Relations should focus more on promoting the work of Winthrop's faculty and students instead of censoring it. For that reason, he said he did not want University Relations to run just a blurb of his work and not the images.
"My work isn't a blurb," he said. "I'm a visual artist. If someone can't see the work, what's the point?"
The images were going to run in the FYI newsletter, a bi-monthly online publication on the Winthrop Web site.
Mark Hamilton was all set to represent the state in an art exhibit at the University of South Carolina in January 2008.
The associate arts professor sent in information about himself to Winthrop's University Relations so that they could run a story on the exhibit. He also sent the department three of his images.
Then he was told the story would still run but not his images because they displayed nudity.
Hamilton said about 13 different artists were chosen to represent the Southeast at the exhibit, and he was one of the two photographers chosen to represent South Carolina alone. He notified University Relations to run the story because he said he thought part of their job was to promote achievements happening at Winthrop.
"For a faculty member, they should be happy that my work is out there and representing the school," he said.
University Relations news and media services manager Judy Longshaw said the images caused concern because of the type of audience that reads the e-newsletter.
"We did have some concerns that the subject was nude," she said. "Particularly since the e-newsletter goes to elderly alumni and prospective high-school students."
Hamilton said the situation is censorship because his images are not being used due to the nudity in them.
"I think any work, if it's advancing, is going to attempt to become controversial," he said. "If it's something that's out there, hopefully it's going to be controversial."
Hamilton said he thinks University Relations should focus more on promoting the work of Winthrop's faculty and students instead of censoring it. For that reason, he said he did not want University Relations to run just a blurb of his work and not the images.
"My work isn't a blurb," he said. "I'm a visual artist. If someone can't see the work, what's the point?"
The images were going to run in the FYI newsletter, a bi-monthly online publication on the Winthrop Web site.
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