The Arts Under Attack – Jock Sturges Photos Vandalized

A new collection of photographs by Jock Sturges has become a magnet for protestors who have descended on Barnes and Noble and Borders Bookstores in at least 20 sites around the country, demanding the book’s removal for its photos of nude children. The collection, entitled Jock Sturges, has inspired some protestors to rip pages from the book in the stores, claiming the stores “sexually exploit children.” Sturges is a famous artist whose naturist photos are familiar to gallery-goers world-wide. Sturges’ work was seized by the FBI in 1991 when a film developer thought they were pornographic. The charges were dropped when a federal grand jury refused to indict him (Censorship News 40). A press release issued by NCAC, The Freedom to Read Foundation, The National Campaign for Free Expression and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression identifies Randall Terry, notorious for his anti-abortion “Operation Rescue” tactics, as one of the organizers of the new assault on books and bookstores.