Anti-censorship 'mourners' to wear black in funeral march for death of art

The mock funeral marks the latest of actions against acts of censorship, most recently involving the censorship of two paintings by Aleksandar Stankovski, banned from being exhibited in the Gozo Arts Festival. Jasmina Kotevska, who had arranged to have these paintings exhibited, was told by the person organising the art exhibition that the paintings were banned after a report was filed to the Ministry of Gozo.

“The censorship regime is still busy making a massacre out of art and in the process suffocating our freedom of expression,” Mark Camilleri, spokesperson for the anti-censorship front Front Kontra c-Censura, said.

“This funeral march will also be symbolising the dying state of the arts in our country as a result of censorship. State censorship creates a sense of fear, self-censorship and takes away our civil liberties,” Camilleri said, who as editor of Realtà faces criminal charges over the publication of a fictional short-story.

The funeral takes place on 24 July, outside City Gate, and marches towards the ministry for culture.