Authority takes action over cemetery photo shoot

Tonio Lombardi

Oct 25th 2009, 20:28

Oh come on! This is so ridiculous. I find nothing offensive here! This is art for God's sake! It is not meant to be of good or bad taste, it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer as a mixture of what the artist meant it to be and the viewer thinks it might be. Everyone is entitled to his opinion however it should not be censored simply because it might offend a small portion of the population! Just the comments on this page could confirm that! I wonder what would have happened if something on the lines of "The Annointment" or "the Last Supper" by David La Chappelle was televised! I bet that would fill our papers for weeks!

C. Muscat

Oct 23rd 2009, 15:24

I see no offensive material here.

Bekki D'Agata

Oct 23rd 2009, 15:05

Completely agree with Franco Farrugia!!!!
For those who left sarcastic comments.. really??What because some people don't share your opinion, you feel the need to reduce yourself to imaturity! Do your parents or friends agree with everything you do.. no, I'm sure they don't.. and why, because everyone has different life experiences. You all cannot pass judgment on other peoples opionions.I myself am probably the youngest to comment on this article, so I can assure you all that I am open minded to many things that older generations may be not. But even though I am young, but i know right from wrong. I may not have experienced everything, I have experience in one thing I highly doubt anyone who has passed a sarcastic comment or whose minds are "open" have experienced. My father died when I was 14. Really, is there need to justify why people didn't warm to the idea?! Its not about being offended, It's about respect. Time passes, ideas and people develop, somethings don't because they shouldn't. Someone was probably being laid to rest at the same time. And for the person who said "The dead are far beyond caring about anything" you need an education!

Andrea Pullicino

Oct 23rd 2009, 10:53

I think the photoshoot highlights what a beautiful cemetery we have and how lucky we are are to have our relatives buried in such grandeur. Hopefully it will also remind those who do not visit often enough to pass by and say a quiet prayer. I feel happy knowing that all my relatives rest in such beauty and the photos really highlight this for me. When we go abroad we take photos of beautiful things, how many of those photos are of religious venues, crypts or tombs, probably with us standing grinning in the foreground? It that justified then since its one someone else's tomb?

david calleja-urry

Oct 23rd 2009, 10:23

I saw the shoot - there was nothing sensational or distasteful in it. I have a lot of family buried there - i didn't feel offended in any way - using this line of reasoning, we should ban any sort of usage of churchs, monuments, heritage sites etc etc - personally i'm more worried at the obsenity we have in our apparently national disregard for our heritage than for something like this - besides, knowing Adrian personally, his professionalism to the world of local fasion is one of the few genunine talents we have, let's try to be a bit more mature about these things!!

Gertrude Lia

Oct 23rd 2009, 09:12

Has anyone noticed in what a bad state the Adolorata Cemetery is??? Isnt it better if the authorities took some kind of slight iniciative in getting the roads on the inside sorted out, maybe the relatives if they do ever visit get to there dear ones without having an ankle sprained or a leg broken!!!! if not out of respect for the dead its respect for the still living!!! especially the elderly!!!

THAT is what I call disrespect by the way not the photo shoot.

Joe Xuereb

Oct 22nd 2009, 23:39

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner! (that's an old Music-Hall number by the way).

I am educated, cultured and good-mannered most of the time. I find many things offensive. But I do not make a song and dance about it. Narrow-mindedness I find very irritating and nauseous. I have relatives (parents) buried at the cemetery but I do not know where the grave is. I respected them (when they deserved it), loved them (that was not always unconditional). Then they died. I very often think fondly of them and less often the anguish they caused me. They were only human. Then they died. I was thousands of miles away from them. I do not beat myself up for that. They died. Like we all do. Punto e bast.

I know someone who hated her parents and yet there she is, religiously, every Sunday morning, with a huge bouquet of pansies-in-season, all dewey-eyed, at the Addolorata. It's a cultural thing, see!

Michael Tabone

Oct 22nd 2009, 20:54

This is something that just comes down to opinion and perspective. You can't say it should be banned because it offends yourself, but not others. That would just be ignorant. On the other hand, don't call someone ignorant for having a negative opinion about the shoot (as long as they don't express their opinions as fact and feel that they deserve to get their way just because they are offended. That is just selfish).

The shoot didn't seem to contain anything obscene, offensive or irregular. Some people just felt uncomfortable, but don't go to the extreme just because of your opinion of disapproval (by writing a letter to the newspaper for example and pretending your opinion is fact).

Mark Dalli

Oct 22nd 2009, 19:53

some Politicians and Political appointed people & authorities need a "Mind Power wash" to remove old thinking hats and cobwebs

Kevin Farrugia

Oct 22nd 2009, 19:17

I share Mr.Franco's Farrugia feeling. He has hit home the message that those readers who are unaffected by something never find anything in bad taste!

Kevin Farrugia

Oct 22nd 2009, 19:12

I visit this cemetry on regular basis after my dad's death and the sacred feeling that I experience whilst walking towards his grave should not be disturbed by photo shoots.
I do not wish to pass any judgements on those passing comments about why should we sensor such activities but I suspect that it has been long since they last visited the cemetery!
Come on let's put a stop to those seeking business interest before considering if such a move would hurt people's sentiments.

Simone Gauci

Oct 22nd 2009, 17:10

Why do we always have to censor these type of tv programmes? This is art and no one is offending anything. We only hear about these things in Malta and nowhere else. Prosit to Adrian continue these type of programmes they are awsome.

Andrea Portelli

Oct 22nd 2009, 16:55

Oh come on, these kind of photo shoots occur in many if not all countries around the globe.

It's not as if the name engravings of those 2 graves back there are showing!

Just another case of censorship because everyone is offended easily

bah!

c. camilleri

Oct 22nd 2009, 16:18

OH art,Oh art how many obscenities are committed in thy name.

Reuben Chircop

Oct 22nd 2009, 15:54

Unfortunately I missed this from TV and hope that in some way I can see it either online or through the net. Its a great idea to use the cemetery as a medium of communication. I guess there are many other ways to feel offended but certainly this should not be one of them.

It is understood that those who lost someone in their lives might feel irritated or maybe not very comfortable with these images but then its all relative, it depends from which angle it is seen.

Thanks.

www.rchircop.com

Marcelle Abela.

Oct 22nd 2009, 13:44

Looking into the whole photoshoot that took place at Addolarata Cemetry may have shook some people's opinions negatively,others on the other hand viewed their opinions positively.Question comes to mind:Isn't that why media pluralism came into Malta?Wider publicity is bound to take it's place on our local newspapers too-how else could the public express their opinions?In having said just that,again the choice that one has to choose what she or he may view on our local channels raises another question for me!Could it be that we are not all that open-minded as to keep ourselves aware that pluralism benefits a variety of programmes & also gives us the choice of choosing what we want to or on the other hand not see!In that case,there is the notorious remote which is a bonus on flicking channels!The whole idea of it is to keep a healthy society open to the fact that 'yes,there is artistic expressionism'!So,what is the whole issue that has propped up with the Addolarata photo shoot?There was no vulgar shots,rather that they were immaculately set out!

S Muscat

Oct 22nd 2009, 13:37

You can see this types of shoots everywhere around the world, we are a "perfect country" and get easily offended with something like this with so minimum importance.

There is no need to get offended by a photoshoot its just a closed island mentatlity, please improve get open minded.

I got offended when they destroyed the cemetries at kirkop and safi cemetry not with just a simple Artistic shoot!!!!

Chris Fenech

Oct 22nd 2009, 13:30

Hey, this is Malta we're talking about. Not surprising at all. Closed-mindedness at it's best !

ABORG

Oct 22nd 2009, 13:07

@ miguel micallef.
it is isn;t a question of being backwards or rather narrowminded or forward looking. it is a question of respect...if for your goodself everything seems to be ok, then for others it may not be the same. re reference to maths symbols in comparison is a poor example.

Christine Scicluna

Oct 22nd 2009, 12:32

I find these extreme reactions very amusing. The feature and the photo shoot itself did not offend public morals since there was no direct reference to any of the tombstones or the dead people in that case, but pictures were taken on the stairs and near the chapel and the entrance, so one would imagine that since Addolorata Cemetry is a gothic jewel, the main focus was art and architecture.

I think that the people who get easily offended in such cases are at times the first to mention the dead in unimaginable situations when something does not go the way they planned. Note that our beloved relatives and friends will still get eternal rest even if a photoshoot is located at the cemetry in which their bodies were buried!

Stephanie Portelli

Oct 22nd 2009, 12:31

I think both sides have a point. Perhaps the people in charge of shooting the programme should have asked permission from the relatives of the dead, whose tombstones were being in used the shoot. Some people may find it degrading and disrespectful of their loved ones to have their last memorial used in such a way.

Brendan Vella

Oct 22nd 2009, 12:22

Please people, get over this! Its not a big deal at all and the photos look amazing. There is nothing at all offensive , at all ! So the Authority's need to take a step back and deal with real issues in Malta like all the illegal immigrants that are in Malta , do something about that! Stop wasting time on issue's that are not even issues!

Edric Micallef Figallo

Oct 22nd 2009, 12:08

This is our world where nothing is sacred, not even death and its solemnity. That is the crux of this apparently and eventually useless controversy. That is the difference between those offended and those that pretend they're way forward. Progress requires parameters for it to be measured, disrespect for the place of rest for our dead seems to be one of them, classified under one of the aspects of the modern goddess Liberty.

Needless to say, if any complaints should be directed these should be towards those that allowed what Judge Galea Debono termed a "charade".

Art is often fuelled by liberty of any sort and to the artist that is the be all and end all, otherwise it is a scandal. For others it is most definitely not, otherwise it is a scandal. Frankly, I'm not scandalised by anything here, this is the world we're living in and one won't change it by attacking a photoshoot here and there.

Ray Mangion

Oct 22nd 2009, 11:01

These people who complain or write about innocent "Art" . Educated people are doing this too. It sounds to me that they have an inferiority complex somewhere in their being. Are they so angelic? Don`t they have skeletons in their cupboards? The mind plays a big part in comments people write about and that part is something that they themselves are questioning their own weaknesses and longing!

D. Scerri

Oct 22nd 2009, 11:01

Another one for the charge of "offending public morals"?

Can we please bring back stoning?

Franco Farrugia

Oct 22nd 2009, 10:38

At Mr M. Micallef - Well, perhaps to you, things seem 'backward' as you say. I think differently. I think that you are one who believes that everything is ok as long as you are not touched! To me, to photoshoot in a cemetery that is still in use is disgusting! A cemetery that is historical and out of use, perhaps, may be ok. But not one that is still in use to this day. It is in bad taste! There is a big difference between the sacred and the profane, and I, for one, prefer to respect what is sacred. But anyway, to many people, especially those who are either uneducated, uncivil, uncultured and who have no basic manners, everything goes! Very cool, I am sure.

Miguel Micallef

Oct 22nd 2009, 10:00

How backwards. As soon as people see a crucifix, and other people next to it that are doing anything that is not mass or praying, then they get offended.

Did these people not get offended at school when learning mathematics and they used plus symbols? Should we ban that too becuase it offends christ that a similar symobl to 'his' crucifix is used in mathematics?

We should start a group that gets offended by these people that get offended. We are being made to ban this, ban that, all because of some sick in the head people.

First it was a great crusade against science. Now it seems that religion is also turning against the arts.