A Queen’s University fine arts graduate said he was asked to remove his thesis project at a university event and leave because the project was made up entirely of embroidered underwear.
The artist, David Woodward, said the May 29 donor appreciation reception originally featured his exhibit titled “All I Am Is What I’ve Felt,” before he was asked to take it down.
The underwear on display was embroidered with sentences that included “Chill Vibes Bro,” “Oh Henry! Only the freedom to fuck the whole world,” and “My face is your face.”
“In my fully honest opinion, I think when people are uncomfortable with things like that I think it has to do with some issue within themselves,” Woodward said.
He noted the event was attended by generous donors, and professors in the arts and the humanities.
Woodward said the public response he has seen since being asked to remove his artwork, which has included a variety of mainstream media coverage, has been “surprising.”
“All attention is good for an artist’s career, negative or positive,” Rebecca Anweiler, Woodward’s thesis supervisor, said.
“We as artists know that. It means people will look. And lots of times people don’t take the time to look unless there’s something around that compels them to look,” she said.
Anweiler said there are underlying reasons for the decision to ask Woodward to take his artwork and leave the event.
“When universities are desperate for funding in order to survive, there can be a lot of anxiety about how the university gets seen, and what kind of image of itself gets put forward,” Anweiler said.
“Unfortunately for [Woodward], he helped to probably bring about how some really important changes around contemporary art is perceived at Queen’s and in the community.”
Woodward said he was later contacted by Queen’s vice-president (advancement) Tom Harris, who told him he originally thought there would have been an audience for his artwork.
Woodward said he also believed the university’s actions illustrated a gendered reaction.
He said a female classmate whose projects have involved women’s underwear as a medium did not experience any backlash.
Woodward said his work is reminiscent of contemporary artist Tracey Emin of the Young British Artists (YBA), a group that has also faced criticism for its eccentric works.
“I adore the YBA. I think it’s work that needs to be taken seriously,” Woodward said. “It’s critically really amazing and touches on a sense of humanity that other art forms aren’t able to quite get at.”
This intimate sense of humanity was present in Woodward’s project, as it was intended to provide a lens into his past romantic relationships, he said.
So when Woodward was asked to remove his project, he said it hurt.
“This work was almost as personal as a journal or something like that. While I didn’t feel, ‘oh, this means my work is bad,’ it did sting to have to take it down.”
