A library exhibition featuring an interpretation Union flag celebrating the diversity of the UK has been pulled over concerns it may cause offence to visitors.
Artist Gil Mualem-Doron’s work New Union Flag, which champions the rich cultural variety found in the country and was created in collaboration with Stand up to Racism, was due to go on display at the Jubilee Library in Brighton.
But he told The Telegraph the show had been axed unexpectedly after Brighton and Hove Council warned it may “be taken out of its artistic context” and “put visitors and their belongings at risk”.
Mr Mualem-Doron has labelled the move as “censorship” and told the newspaper he is considering starting a petition in protest. The work has previously been shown at the Museum of Liverpool and the Southbank Centre, as well as at the Jubilee Library.
“In a phone call followed by a letter, the staff explained that the exhibition might ‘put visitors and their belongings at risk’,” he said. “They added that, unlike a gallery or museum, library visitors might encounter the work unexpectedly and take offence.”
The artist told The Telegraph the move had made him “afraid”, adding: “Because if you can’t show this kind of flag, which is all about diversity and with the contribution of hundreds of people from Brighton and further afield and exhibited all around the country ... if you can’t show that in Brighton, which is a very progressive city, a city of sanctuary, it makes me afraid. It is definitely censorship.”
Collaborators Stand up to Racism said: “When a public library in a progressive city cannot host a flag celebrating diversity, we should be concerned.”
But council leader Bella Sankey insisted the decision was necessary. In a comment, she said: “As council buildings, our libraries need to remain neutral spaces and a safe space for all our customers.
“Our libraries have been recognised as Libraries of Sanctuary, something we are very proud of, and keen to maintain.”
