Comparise (The Pornography Of Power) By Ayanda Mabulu

violation of dignity. This essay will explore the line between these two human rights. This will be achieved by discussing the paintings “The Spear” by Brett Murray and “Spear Down my Throat (The Pornography of Power)” by Ayanda Mabulu in relation to controversy. Secondly, by evaluating whether or not morality is an accurate measure for defining art. Lastly, this will be achieved by examining the role of censorship in art and if immorality is a justification for censorship in art.

The Spear by Brett Murray and Spear Down my Throat (The Pornography of Power) by Ayanda Mabulu are both highly controversial artworks that depict the South African president Jacob Zuma in a sexually explicit and vulgar way. These paintings are controversial as their content stimulates controversy and public disapproval. The two paintings are controversial, firstly because they are expressions of individual’s views in an extremely emotion provoking manner, which is likely to attract contradicting opinions due to discontent. Secondly, both the paintings are controversial as they portray an individual who some regard as highly respected in a derogatory manner, which is yet another cause for the generations of emotional responses,

In relation to such debates, the question arises regarding the immorality of art and if such immorality is a sufficient justification for the censorship of art. An argument stands that the existence of immoral content in an artwork is not alone an adequate justification for such censorship. John Stuart Mills’ Classical Liberal argument contends that only if there is harm caused can it be justified to submit art to censorship. That is, the censoring of art that is not harmful only functions to suppress individual’s exposure to a variety of opinions and views that may deepen their