The ACLU of Texas is celebrating a First Amendment victory after the Fort Worth Police Department returned photographs by acclaimed artist Sally Mann to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth months after their seizure in January.
Police removed four photographs from the “Diaries of Home” exhibit by photographer Sally Mann at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in late December over allegations that the exhibit promoted child pornography.
The Danbury Institute, a nonpartisan association of Evangelical churches based in Dallas that first brought attention to the exhibit, shared an update on Feb. 11, announcing that the seized photos remain in police custody as the investigation continued. The group called the seizure a “direct result of public pressure and God’s faithfulness in answering our prayers.”
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After a grand jury in March declined to take action on the controversial exhibit, the progressive civil rights organization announced the artwork was returned to the museum.
“The case should have never gotten this far,” the ACLU of Texas said in an April 24 statement. “It’s shameful that government officials would use the criminal legal process to censor art and expression. We applaud that our First Amendment rights have prevailed here.”
The “Diaries of Home” exhibition, which closed on Feb. 2, featured 13 women and LGBT-identified artists exploring themes of family, community and home. The museum’s website warned that the show contained “mature themes that may be sensitive for some viewers.”
While the exhibit includes work from multiple artists, it was Mann’s photographs that stirred public outrage, with images like “Wet the Bed,” featuring a young, naked girl asleep and lying in a puddle; “Popsicle Drips,” which depicts a nude boy with liquid running down his body; and “The Perfect Tomato,” which depicts a completely naked girl jumping on a table, according to The Danbury Institute.
In response to the ACLU’s announcement, Sharayah Colter, chief communications officer at The Danbury Institute, told CP the group’s decision to “frame a grotesque display like ‘Diaries of Home,’ which included images of real human children’s genitalia, as a work of art and freedom of expression is an affront to the just and righteous nature of our First Amendment.”
In an open letter dated Dec. 28, Colter condemned the exhibit, calling it “disturbing, exploitative and inappropriate.”
“These images are presented under the guise of art, but in reality, they sexualize children and exploit their innocence,” Colter wrote. “This exhibit should be called what it is: child pornography.”
Pointing to a museum plaque that described the exhibit as featuring children “naked, moody and in suggestive situations” in order to “evoke an edgy, dark side of childhood,” Colter called the characterization “morally unacceptable.”
“The exhibit as a whole effectively works to normalize pedophilia, child sexual abuse, the [LGBT] lifestyle, and the breakdown of the God-ordained definition of family,” she added.
On Jan. 8, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, among over 2,000 signatories to The Danbury Institute’s open letter, called the exhibit’s images “deeply disturbing” and urged law enforcement to take action, which ultimately lead to the seizure by Fort Worth Police.
After a Tarrant County Grand Jury returned a “No Bill” decision in the case, Fort Worth Police formally closed its investigation last month.
Mann, whose photos have appeared in art exhibits across the globe, garnered critical attention in the mid-1980s and early ’90s for intimate portraits of her family’s life in rural Virginia. Mann also generated controversy over photos of her nude children published in her collection “Immediate Family” in 1992.
