Falmouth Artist's Trump Exhibit Too Political For Venue

FALMOUTH, MA – A Falmouth artist's satirical Trump display was deemed too political by a Cape Cod venue 10 days before it was set to debut. Salley Mavor pulled her exhibit, which depicted 12 photographed scenes of hand-stitched and painted figurines of the Trump administration, from Falmouth's Highfield Hall & Gardens after she was told she needed to change its content.

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Mavor said she was told, "I should amend the show and remove any political references or cancel it." She said she only had a day to decide after putting the show together for more than a year.

The display included images like Trump and Pence looking out over the Women's March on Washington with the caption, "Don't worry, it's only a million fat cows," the Globe reported.

According to Peter Franklin, executive director of Highfield Hall, the venue does not have a policy on exhibiting politically themed artwork. Franklin wrote in a statement on the organization's website that its board "felt we needed to step back and talk with the community about whether or not they want political art at Highfield, what constitutes political art, and if agreed, then develop a process that is inclusive and non-partisan."

He added that the board was "in awe" of Mavor's work, but it made a mistake in initially approving the exhibit.

"Besides a policy gap, an examination of the process we used to select Salley would show we never asked any other political view to be shown; effectively making us appear to be a partisan institution, restricting freedom of expression of other artists with other views," he continued.

Mavor received support from the fiber-art community, and she landed at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, according to the Globe. Her display, "Liberty and Justice: The Satirical Art of Salley Mavor," debuted at the museum on Wednesday and will run through Dec 30.

Top image courtesy of Jeff Swenson/Getty Images News/Getty Images