The "Controversial Cover Art" thread

[Emplate]

This is a really interesting topic, although it seems kind of a hot potato, so I hesitated for a while if I should say anything. Firstly, I have to establish that I understand if someone finds the album cover offending. Death and actual dead people are definitely a sensitive topic in art, let alone children who have suffered a violent death. Some have even opposed Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition (http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html), and those bodies belong to people who have willingly offered them to the artist.

And this is something that rubbed me the wrong way regarding the conversation around this cover art as well. There's always someone who feels the need to define what is art and what is not. And usually, these people feel that others should agree to their rules. Here in Finland, we even have people in the government who think they have the right to say that some art isn't as valuable as the other. No intention to offend Doogz, but I got a feeling from your opening post that you had already decided that there is no way this subject could be justified and they are only seeking attention. I find this a rather black and white way to look at things. Also, I was quite annoyed by the way the first question in that Decibel interview was stated. Really unprofessional and idiotic.

The other point here is the actual victim and death itself. I obviously would understand that for example relatives would feel horrible about the usage of the said picture, but I can't help but feel that the reaction of the outsiders has something to do with death being so unfamiliar with the modern day society. It's as if death would've been cleaned away from the community, and we want no reminders of it. Of course such a violent death is a bit different matter, but would it be possible to think of it as paying tribute to the victim? These kind of cases usually tend to revolve around the murderer, so maybe we need a reminder from time to time, that there's an actual victim here and these kind of horrific things happen in our world.