Fort Worth police have returned artworks by photographer Sally Mann seized by its forces from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in January. The news was confirmed by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU of Texas) on Thursday.
“It’s important to celebrate the return of these works,” Elizabeth Larison, director of NCAC’s art and culture advocacy program, said in a statement, “because it brings the last bit of closure to a sensationalized and protracted investigation, and also because it represents the rightful check on the abuse of government power. Artistic freedom won, and artists can and should continue to exercise this right.”
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Following complaints by locals and elected officials that characterized Mann’s work as “grossly inappropriate” and “child porn,” the photographs in question were forcibly removed from a group exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and taken into custody by authorities, who held the works as evidence for alleged child abuse.
Mann has spurred controversy for years over her photographs of her rural Lexington, Virginia, home, which include nude images of her underage children shot during the 1990s.
The group exhibition “Diaries of Home”, which has since closed, featured the work of 13 women and nonbinary artists who, according to the museum’s website, “explore the multilayered concepts of family, community, and home.” The website included a warning that the show featured “mature themes that may be sensitive for some viewers.”
The investigation drew national condemnation, as three civil liberty organizations stepped in to demand the return of the works in February. Ultimately, the charges against the museum were dropped. The fate of the photographs, however, remained unclear until now.
“The return of Mann’s photographs brings a welcome end to a shocking abuse of government power,” said Aaron Terr, FIRE’s director of public advocacy, in a statement. “Police had no business storming into a museum and seizing art like contraband. They picked a fight with the First Amendment and lost.”