Dalston bar removes poster after ‘distressing’ artwork causes outrage

Removed: A section of the poster which was displayed on Kingsland Road.

A bar in Dalston has removed a poster promoting a club night after the artwork was slammed for being ‘offensive’ and ‘distressing’.

The poster, which advertised a Not Without Attitude (NWA) party at Dalston Social on Stoke Newington Road, depicted a lewd caricature resembling supermodel Kate Moss and controversial fashion photographer Terry Richardson.

Object, an organisation that campaigns against sexual exploitation and objectification of women, said that some Hackney residents found the image “distressing and upsetting”.

Roz Hardie, Chief Executive at Object said she was “delighted” the poster had been removed. She said: “We’re a human right’s organisation and we completely support freedom of speech. However, we think there should be a balance between freedom of speech and images which appear to incite, glorify or glamourise violence.

“Images like this are inappropriate and distressing, and we are delighted that the promoters responded so quickly.”

Polly Trenow, Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer at the Fawcett Society, a charity for women’s equality and rights, put pressure on the promoters to remove the image from their Facebook site.

She said: “I’m pleased NWA and Dalston Social responded quickly but I remain concerned about the decision-making process that led to the poster being displayed.”

“I’m sure they were just trying to be edgy but there are other ways to make a point. The strength of the social media response shows just how outraged many other people were.”

NWA, the promoters who provided the posters for the night at Dalston Social have now removed the poster. A spokesperson said: “Our posters are inspired by pop art and urban art. We took influence from Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe photography.

“We did not mean to send out political or social messages, we thought the image was a parody of two individuals in the public eye. We never thought it was gonna be so conflicting, raise so many issues and upset so many people, that is why we removed it straight away.”

Mansur Boyraz, the director of Dalston Social, also apologised saying he would be “very careful” of the kind of posters he puts up in the future.