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Professor and class,

The Holy Virgin Mary, painted in 1996, by Chris Ofili is a mixed-media painting that depicts an African American Virgin Mary surrounded by images from blaxploitation movies and female genitalia. Also, parts of her body are made from elephant dung. New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani found the painting disgusting and tried to sue the Brooklyn Museum to have it removed when it was exhibited in New York in 1999. Protesters attempted to smear the plexiglass covering by throwing white paint and horse manure at the painting. This painting is now on permanently on display in the Modern Museum of Art. Ofili stated, “When I go to the National Gallery and see paintings of the Virgin Mary, I see how sexually charged they are. Mine is simply a hip-hop version.” The artist is trying to convey a century old message in a new way. Its social contribution is that it sparks modern conversation about religion and sacredness. Its only offensive because look at the obvious and do not look deeper into the expression. The lack of cultural understanding also shines through when people are offended when they see dung used to shape the breasts in the painting. Few people know that dung is a commonly used medium in African art to show culturalheritage. People are easily offended when something challenges their belief system and shocks their senses. I feel censorship should be very limited in the humanities and only used in extreme cases such as something like pedophilia. I feel that differing opinions on topics can be expressed in thought provoking ways without glamourizing acts of violence.