Smart Readers…

Stay up to date with our content

Sons of Confederate Veterans Object To Art

March 16, 2007

Well, not just any art. The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee, Florida is currently displaying John Sims’s "The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag." The piece in question is part of an exhibit that caused a great deal of controversy up at Gettysburg College back in 2004. Col. Robert Hurst of the SCV noted:

I and the other members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans camps in this area find the current display at the Brogan Museum of the ‘art’ of John Sims to be both tasteless and offensive.

Yes, sometimes art is "tasteless and offensive." My suggestion for those of you who find yourselves in agreement with Col. Hurst is that you not pay the entrance fee at the art gallery. These are the same people who apparently find nothing wrong with the way in which the Confederate flag is used to sell bikinis, necklaces, and bed sheets.

Apparently at 11:00am the museum will respond to the SCV’s request. I assume it will be a hearty, "NO".

Eclectica

Hang the ConfederateFlag.

No need to worry, I am still firmly entrenched in my leftist ideology, on this issue at least. You see, there is more than one way to hang a flag, as American artist John Sims has demonstrated in an exhibit currently displayed at the Mary Brogan Muse...

matthew mckeon

Symbol of defending slavery in the 19th century, symbol of lynching in the early 20th century, symbol of segregation and resistance to civil rights in the mid to late 20th century. Sims' piece ties all these meanings together, and they hang together nicely.

Clio Bluestocking

My first reaction was to laugh rather cynically. The piece takes everything that Kevin said, plus some, and conveys it in a powerful image. I see in it an execution of the pro-slavery, anti-Civil Rights messages with which the flag has represented. Art as historical interpretation; and the viewers' interpretations seems to say something about their own understandings of the flag.

Kevin Levin

I guess that what this comes down to is one's First Amendment right to freedom of expression. I actuall find the exhibit to be a clever jab at history. Of course the SCV would like us to see the Confederate flag as simply the flag that soldiers carried into battle, but anyone who looks further knows that that flag was carried and used as a symbol against the civil rights movement. It was also present during a number of public lynchings. Why not respond by lynching the flag? It may be tasteless and offensive to some while others may find the sight to be liberating.

Brooks D. Simpson

I guess the question of whether one finds this dosplay tasteless and offensive depends upon one's perspective. Will the SCV respect my feelings if I find other displays of the Confederate flag to be tasteless and offensive?

Rich irony indeed.

Glenn

I could care less about the Confederate flag (and yes, I am a Southerner) but if I did, I would find the display tasteless also.

I also find tasteless the way many merchants and even the US Olympic Organization has used the US flag. I think the low point was when the men's swim team speedos were were designed in a manner similar to that of our flag. Then there was the Old Navy t-shirts appearing after 9-11 that had their logo on the t-shirt with the flag.

Regards,

Glenn