Polari Magazine 16 Dec 2011 by Christopher Bryant and Bryon Fear

Rosenthal was given the Passion for Freedom Visitor’s Choice Award in October 2011 for his series, We do not have homosexuals like in your country. In our country we do not have this. In Iran this phenomenon does not exist. This work tells the story of two teenage boys, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, from northeastern Iran, who were executed for committing homosexual acts. The pictures themselves are, remarkably, constructed from the profile pictures from Gaydar profiles. Polari met Steve to talk about his work, and conducted the interview stood in front of a picture of the boys just moments before they were hanged.

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PIOTR GULBICKI

Pasja wolności

Prześladowania. Za poglądy polityczne, re­ligijne, obyczajowe… W wielu zakątkach świata to ciągle norma. – Stało się plagą, że politycy nie zajmują się tym, czym powinni. Na szczęście są artyści, którzy nie boją się totalitarnych reżimów, dla których możliwość swobodnej wypowiedzi jest jak po­wietrze – mówią orga­nizatorzy londyńskiego festiwalu „Passion for Freedom”.

Malarstwo, instalacja, rzeź­ba, rysunek, grafika… Różne techniki, różne formy arty­stycznego wyrazu. I wspólny mianownik – sprzeciw wobec cenzury, wyrażający się w dą­żeniu do nieskrępowanego wyrażania swoich przekonań. W różnych dziedzinach, na różnych płaszczyznach. Nie od dziś wiadomo, że sztuka prze­łamuje tabu. [..]

Polish Artists are braking the last taboo

Private View: Saturday 29 October 2011, 18.00 – 21.00 hours
29 October – 5 November, Mon – Wed 8.00am – 6pm, Thur – Fri 8.00 am – 6.30pm
UNIT24 Gallery
20 Great Guildford Street
London SE1 0FD
FREE

Whilst artists are considered free to express themselves here in the west, many face huge amounts of pressure for addressing matters deemed ‘offensive’, particularly when it comes to Islam. Artist Sooreh Hera in the Netherlands and artists Lee-Anne Raymond and Demetrios Vakras in Melbourne, Australia come to mind, raising serious questions about tolerance of dissent.

Clearly, criticism of religion is not racist. In fact open disagreement and the freedom to criticise tradition, culture and religion are essential for social progress. This must be a reason why Polish artists speak out during Passion for Freedom 2011 London Festival. Last year’s edition presented works of Golden Medallist at Warsaw Poster Biennale; Maja Wolna and award winning documentary ‘Little Bride’ by Leszek Dobrucki. [..]

Passion for Freedom 2011 London Festival

Passion for Freedom Group together with One Law for All presents international artists who exercise their freedom of speech and artistic expression to discuss how religious and ideological systems create totalitarian states with us until now as silent bystanders.

International artists responded through painting, drawing, sculpture, film and installation. Their works vary in approaches to the subject. What bring them together are the awareness and the courage to act. They know as Ervin Straub famously said “Mass violence evolves progressively, always with small steps like excluding people, creating offices that serve discrimination.” The artists do not become silent bystanders who think: this is a small thing; it’s not big enough to worry about it.

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