He also had photos of authors who are experts on male and female circumcision. Other material documented men who have ended up with lifelong problems after a botched cutting of the foreskin around the penis. In the exhibit at the Denman Street public facility there were a number of pictures showing babies' penises, but Loewen said nothing was offensive. The artist figures that he put close to 1,000 hours into preparing the exhibit. Loewen, who lives and has a studio in Vancouver's West End, was expecting to have his work on display for three weeks.
Any artist is proud to have their work on display there.
Community centre co-ordinator Warren Coughlan said the exhibit wasn't suitable for the main hallway. More immediately linked to the issue of censorship are James Loewen's three photos taken at the Children's Rights demonstration in San Francisco, July 12, 1993. Suggesting that the rite of circumcision is genital mutilation raises eyebrows in both the medical and religious communities - and the hackles of the West End Community Centre's art committee who condemned Loewen's photo exhibit within an hour after he put it up. All rights reserved.