Teen student’s GCSE artwork censored by school for featuring same-sex kisses
16-year-old Megan Angus was left shocked after going to collect her project.
A British school has apologised after censoring a student’s GCSE artwork because it depicted same-sex kisses.
16-year-old Megan Angus completed her studies at the Laurence Jackson School in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, last summer, but was shocked when she returend to collect her GCSE art project this week to find that it had been censored by staff.
The painting, which depicted women kissing and holding hands in front of the rainbow flag, had seven stickers stuck over it with Blu Tack.
Speaking to Gazette Live, she said: “I can’t see why they censored it. When you go to an art gallery, they don’t censor them there.
“I wanted my work to be shown how I left it.”
Explaining why she created the artwork, Angus said: “We had to do an outsider piece and had five options. I did same-sex relationships as they seem to be out of place in society.
“I wanted to get across that it shouldn’t be frowned upon and it shows girls can be together. It is something I feel passionate about.”
As well as censoring the non-explicit image of same-sex affection, the school allegedly refused to display the piece in its art room, a move Angus says was “homophobic”.
She also claims that the artwork has now been ruined because of marks left by the stickers.
However, a spokesperson for the school hit back, claiming that they censored the artwork because it was “sexually explicit”.
They said: “Due to the sexually explicit nature of some of the drawings in the student’s work, a censored strip of paper was Blu-tacked over these areas.”
“As a secondary school, we needed to be mindful of the impact this may have on younger students. This piece of artwork contributed positively to the student achieving a good grade at GCSE.
“In no way was she discouraged from producing work of this nature and her artistic talents were celebrated by our art department. Laurence Jackson School is in no way homophobic; sexually explicit images of any nature would have been censored if displayed.”
The spokesperson added: “In retrospect, we may have been overzealous in censoring some images within the piece, and for that we apologise for any offence caused.”