Censored art back where it belongs

HELEN Murnane's controversial art exhibition Not the Moyne Shire finally opened in Warrnambool yesterday.Removed from the Warrnambool Entertainment Centre (WEC) in February after local councils intervened, the exhibition will be on display to the public at the city's privately owned Customs House Gallery for the next two weeks.Barely an hour after the gallery doors opened the exhibition was already being viewed by curious residents keen to see what all the fuss had been about.Gallery director Des Bunyon said he believed the exhibition would prove popular among residents."Just about everyone I've bumped in to keeps saying 'I'm going to come and have a look at that'," he said."People have also commented that it is good Helen now has the opportunity for freedom of expression and the opportunity to show the Warrnambool public her work."The original exhibition contained 14 pieces of humorous commentary on past Moyne Shire controversies which ultimately led to the conviction of former councillor Dick Prendergast in 2006.Warrnambool City Council chief executive officer Bruce Anson pulled the paintings following a Moyne Shire Council leader's concern about the political sensitivity of the work. Now the exhibition features two new paintings, one of which was inspired by the censorship of her work. Murnane said she was still "astonished" by the original decision to withdraw her works from the WEC."I set out to paint some pictures, not to create controversy," she said.[FUBULLET][PI9017]For more information about the exhibition visit www.standard.net.au/eventlist.