THE EARWIG Tuam Arts Festival has come to the defence of a Galway-based artist who was asked to remove one of her works from an exhibition she has staged.
Artist and photographer Jane Talbot says she is “mystified” about objections to the piece, which is one of a series she is exhibiting during the annual arts event in the north Galway town.
Entitled Red Handbag of Ulster, the work in question is a photograph of a red handbag strategically placed below a UFF/ UDA mural on Belfast’s Sandy Row.
Niall Murphy, proprietor of the Mocha Bean coffee shop in Tuam, said his manager received complaints about the work and he had asked Ms Talbot to take it down earlier this week.
Nine other images of Ms Talbot’s “red handbag on tour” in various locations, ranging from Dublin to Cuba to New York’s Central Park, are still on show at the coffee shop and restaurant.
Earwig’s artistic director Midie Corcoran, a key festival organiser, has opted to show the piece in the festival’s box office in Tuam’s square.
“We have to honour and respect our participating artists and it is important that the work is protected,” Mr Corcoran told The Irish Times.
Mr Murphy said he was delighted to be hosting a festival event. “The pieces went up last Saturday, and I was having coffee in the shop with my kids last Sunday morning when I heard people making remarks about this particular piece,” he said.
“My manager had received complaints before that. People said it was distasteful and not suitable, and I felt it was out of context with the rest of the prints, which are really lovely.”
Ms Talbot said she had offered to write an explanatory note, which would describe the “anti- violent” theme of the piece.
“The image is designed to show the futility of war, where you have so-called hard men shooting up a handbag.
“It was also intended to make a comment on violence against women, which people try to ignore . . . I just wonder if it was an IRA mural, would it have been an issue?”