Shelly Murney and Marc Morris
Port Townsend, Washington
The Veil of Hate, 2007
Digital photography

The Veil of Hate was originally a series of 40 digital prints, arranged in a grid. The artists combine text from The White Man’s Bible with portraits of individuals opposed to its racist, anti-Semitic, speciesist, misogynist messages.

Murney and Morris see the text as a societal veil. A veil is that which obscures, hides, or disguises something. The texts published by The Creativity Movement form an oppressive veil the artists deconstruct through digital media. By looking at the text, enlarging it, and viewing it as a veil, we –as a society –can begin to overcome the hate that is inspired by these words.

The strength of the piece is the unity and power expressed through the gaze. Each person was asked to confront the camera while considering a quote from The White Man’s Bible. As a group, the portraits overpower the hateful message conveyed in the text, unifying to tear down the oppression found in the words.

Bios
Shelly Murney is an instructional designer, educator, and photographer. She exhibits her work nationally. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in photography from University of Montana, and she uses her camera to document her life and experiences.

Marc Morris struggles between what is beautiful and what is right. Like all artists, he is concerned with beauty, but he also feels a larger obligation to draw attention to the areas in society that others either don’t notice or choose not to see. Morris has created works in a variety of media, from printmaking to sculpture, but focuses primarily on photography.

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