Remember back in 2005 when the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused an uproar throughout the Islamic world by publishing the above caricature of the prophet Mohammed?
What with the fatwas, and calls for Jihad and global uproar on all side — which left more than 100 peopel dead — how could we forget.
Well now it appears as if a brazen — or is it brave — Danish gallery could very well come under the wrath of Islam when it displays the offending art work as part of an upcoming exhibition later this month.
That’s the plan of the small-sized Galleri Draupner in the town of Skanderborg, which launches an exhibition on August 29th dedicated to the work of the Muslim-offending artist Kurt Westergaard.
Indeed, the upcoming Draupner show will be a retrospective of sorts on 74 year-old Westergaard’s career and it has been confirmed that the offending Mohammed pic — one of 12 the artist published in the newspaper — will indeed be part of the show.
Along with the shock — and potential media value — the images’ appeal is clear. Almost five years after they first appeared, Westergaard’s Islamist works are highly coveted and highly priced.
The original Mohammed drawing, for instance, has been appraised at $150,000 and Westergaard regularly sells autographed copies of the piece for upwards of $250 each.
With Muslims worldwide reacting so strongly to the drawing’s original debut, we suspect a similar uproar as the Westergaard exhibition nears opening night.
What do you think dear reader?
Westergaard’s upcoming exhibition — freedom of expression or freedom to offend.