Protests Erupt At National Museum Of Colombia Over Removed LGBTQ, Feminist Art

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Protesters gathered around Bogotá's National Museum of Colombia over the weekend after the removal of more than 30 objects that“related to the struggles of the LGBTQ+ movement, feminism, and the political left,” according to the digital news source Colombia One. The demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday involved anti-censorship sentiments, political theater, and clashes with police.

Police reportedly used water cannons and riot-control equipment against opponents of Abelardo De La Espriella's right-wing campaign against“wokismo.”“The decision by Abelardo De La Espriella's government, announced last Friday, turned the area around the museum into a site of public demonstrations against what protesters describe as 'an attempt to impose an ideological view of the country's history,'” Colombia One reported.

Some participants placed reproductions of the removed works outside the museum,“bringing them back into the public space and denouncing their disappearance from the exhibitions as an attempt to silence the stories they represented,” the publication stated. The affected materials included items and documents concerning feminist and LGBTQ+ causes, the history of Colombia's political left, and the 2016 peace agreement with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The National Museum has not addressed the protests on its website or social media. However, its website does feature an October 6 notice about damage to Fernando Botero's bronze sculpture The Dove of Peace. The damage, including abrasions, paint loss, and“dents in the metal, resulting from the impact on different points of the sculpture, especially the beak,” occurred when a visitor leaned against its pedestal to take a photograph, knocking the work over.

Source: ARTnews

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