Yesterday I went to a great art exhibit at BYU Provo. It was basically about all the BS LDS leaders said about women and all the shitty quotes. Guys, this is at BYU!!!! I would bet they have nooooo clue what's going on under their roof and once they do, that poor student may be in a big trouble. But I loved it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2017 10:21PM by goldrose.

Free speech on display at BYU? There has to be an oversight because there's no way it would see the light of day if the admin knew about it.

Poor student. If not outright disfellowshipped, I see shunning in her future.

What kinds of art were on display? Exactly what did it depict?

It's probably been taken down already, because of the headlines it be generating.

Oh I'd like to see that!! Yes do tell more!

I had an art exhibit displayed in the HVAC building on campus in like 1993 or 94 and it became quite the controversy. I had photographed dolls in a very creepy way in order to try and capture dreams I had of dolls was I was a child and very afraid of them. I explained this in the artist's statement.

Well I left a 'comment book' out for people to leave comments and to this day it still cracks me up when I bring it out for a read every few years.

Some said I was a psycho path and needed help. Others said I was going to hell, others protested about my 'sick' work being on display at BYU. Others applauded me and wrote angry comments back to the other comments!

Then my photography teacher got a call from the art department head saying there were complaints and asking to take it down. He stood by me and refused. And then, to my surprise he had my class applaud me because my work had been effective enough to get a reaction.

I was so surprised by all of it. I guess I didn't see it as very radical. But I also hadn't considered that the HVAC building unlike our design department building (Which was much smaller and harder to find, that's why we often used the art building to display our shows), was used for more than just art classes and also had church services to a wide variety of students and their families on Sundays.

Maybe that's why one of the comments said that I was deranged and that I had made his child cry! :)

I promise I wasn't trying to make any kids cry!

One of my other photo teachers (the only non-mormon one) actually bought two of the pieces to 'hang in his bathroom.'

And my teacher who had the class applaud me said that if 'all art was supposed to be warm and fuzzy we'd be choking on hairballs!'

I guess I was pretty lucky to be in the design department.

I heard about art being taken down that had some nudity in it (drawings) because of complaints. It seems like most of the complaints were always by other students. Amazing.

I also got to work as a live model for drawing classes in the art department. For the anatomy drawing classes I had to wear a sports bra and modest underwear. (Even then I didn't dare tell my parents since I was sure they would not have approved and found that to be very scandalous!)

and instead propagandist hacks like McNaughton. So many absolutely cannot handle something outside of their narrow worldview.

I think your art pieces sound great and interesting.Cracks me up that it made some kid cry.

Hey, at least you got a reaction, eh? That's what art is supposed to do. :)

I think I attended that display, and it was 1993, if I recall correctly. I remember the kerfuffle.

That was quite the year. I was pretty much disconnected from Mormonism at that point, but the events of 1993 moved me from "disconnected" to "opposed", where I still am.

That was the year BYU fired David Knowlton and Cecelia Conchar Farr. They claimed Cecelia was fired for "poor scholarship". I was in academia, so I knew what a good CV looked like. The SLTrib published her CV, and it was not only good for a 3rd year review, which is when they fired her. It would have been good for a 6 year review and tenure decision. It deeply offended me that they would lie about why they were firing her (feminist politics, basically). That put me in the opposition.

I think that was also the year of the Women's Conference at BYU where Martha Nibley Beck spoke out. It was also the year that the September Six were disfellowshipped or excommunicated. So if you were one of the 1993 troublemakers, you were in seriously good company! :)

hi 'Brother of Jerry'

Yes that's the right year so I think you got the right exhibit!

AND I remember the firings as well and was really outraged by that.

I would say, proudly, I WAS a 'troublemaker'! I even helped the 'Student Review' by contributing art work and distributing it around campus.

That was probably the 'beginning of the end' for me as well as far as my 'faith' was concerned. I just saw too many eye opening things at BYU for me to stay with it. Too many injustices really.

Glad to find others here who weren't able to stand the BS any longer and get out!

Yeah women are so discriminated against in the LDS Chrch that they outnumber men 2 to 1 in membership.

Women are staying. Men are leaving.

Who's really being discriminated against?0

a) Not true, except for certain demographic slices (mostly older women, and 20-something singles). Women are hardly a shrinking violet class on RFM, either in numbers or outspokenness, so I'm not buying the premise that women are afraid to leave mormonism. Their timing may be a bit different, but roughly as many eventually leave. Actually, LDS Inc is losing an alarming number of women after age 18 if they don't marry in fairly short order, and fewer are marrying in short order after turning 18.

b) Not relevant. the discriminated against often outnumber the discriminators. Also, in LDS Inc, the discrimination often comes from other women.

Sorry I've never replied - Taking pics wasn't allowed and I didn't want the author to think I was a crazy Mormon, who will report her.

Basically it was posters and shitty quotes by general "authorities" about women and their "divine" purpose. Sexist AF.

My revelation is that gal with her art exhibit ain't long for the Mormon world. Lucky her.