Most gallery owners are reluctant to put my work on display. I was therefore grateful when a friend directed me to one he knew. She naturally wanted to see my pictures before she exhibited them, and I showed her a carefully censored selection. This did not help; my remaining works were rejected for being too disturbing. While I am used to this sort of treatment, I was somewhat bemused by her statement that “we display art in our gallery, and what you do is… something else.” Forgive my ignorance, but I thought that art was about self-expression, and I make no apologies for expressing myself as I see fit. I also believed the relativist views that hold such currency these days had broadened our definitions of art. Perhaps I was wrong on both counts. So what is art and who defines it? Some of my heretical thoughts on this issue are discussed below. Read the rest of this entry »
To my surprise, the good folks in Pyrmont sent me a reply by mail. It consisted of more propaganda - several A4 pages, in fact - with the following message scrawled across it (prose style their own): “The Oxford dictionary defines ‘empirical’ as based or acted on observation and experiment. NOT ON THEORY. Evolution is still a theory and NOT OBSERVABLE. You believe IT by Blind FAITH. coupled with a deep hatred of GOD. Have a read of this IF YOU DARE. And please explain!”
No love or forgiveness, to be sure! Though fully aware I was wasting my time, I wrote a far more civil reply, which is reproduced below. It elaborates on the themes I mentioned in my first letter, such as my rejection of the Bible on ethical and spiritual grounds. I believe this is the stance we must take when debating with such people. I also believe that civil discourse is preferable to name-calling, threats of violence and the like. If we indulge in the latter, we are guilty of the very excesses we are supposed to be fighting against.
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This is a short story I wrote while working the night shift at Mobil. Its meaning is ambiguous, but the misery expressed throughout is entirely authentic. Thankfully, my life has never been as bad as the protagonist’s.
For a long time I have followed the debate between science and religion. I never took part in it until mid 2007, when I picked up an anti-evolutionary tract on George St, Sydney. Although it was being distributed by an Australian group based in Pyrmont, it was published in the USA. The arguments in it were puerile, as you will be able to deduce from the following reply. However, my main problem with it stemmed less from its attacks on science than its insistence that the Bible was entirely free from mistakes. I have always believed that the best ammunition against any religion is to be found in its teachings. Sit back, read on and enjoy!
Thank you for visiting my site. It would not exist at all without the team that helped to build it. You can see more of their handiwork on Infectious Videos. I am grateful for the dedication they have shown in promoting my work and wish them all the best with theirs.
-JF, 2007