San Diego Central Library Hosts Exhibition on Censorship by FIG Artists

“Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.” - Article 3, Library Bill of Rights

FIG is proud to announce that many of our members are exhibiting their work in a show titled “In the Land Of” at the San Diego Central Library. The exhibition opened in June 22 and runs through October 12, 2025.

As artists, our work is deeply tied to freedom of expression—and just as vital is our shared commitment to the First Amendment. When the City extended an invitation to create pieces that “interpret the realities of censorship,” it sparked our imagination and opened space for bold, necessary conversations through art.

The participating artists are: Jennifer Spencer, Cindy Zimmerman, Susan Osborn, Kathy Nida, Helen Redman, Nanette Newbry, Judith Christensen, Doris Bittar, Judith Parenio, Ruth Wallen, Bridget Rountree, Marty Ornish, Kirsten Aaboe, Momilani Ramstrum, and Stacie Birky Greene.

A heartfelt thank you goes to Jennifer Spencer for organizing our members and to the library’s thoughtful curator, Bonnie Domingos, for supporting this exhibition.

The following article/interview was written by Lisa Deaderick and is copyrighted by the San Diego Tribune and is published here with permission.

Local feminist art coalition tackles censorship in current exhibition at San Diego Central Library

The members of the Feminist Image Group were invited to exhibit their artwork at a local library just before the start of the pandemic, member Jennifer Spencer recalls. The day that exhibition was scheduled to open, however, shelter-in-place orders were in effect, placing the show on hold. About a year and a half later, they picked back up, but the focus would be different — they were invited to display work addressing the issue of censorship because of the harsh criticism directed at libraries and specific books.

Now, the group has a new exhibition opening Sunday at the San Diego Central Library that’s an expansion of the resistance to censorship that includes not just books and public libraries, but all areas of the suppression of ideas and art. “In the Land of…” features the work of 15 members of FIG — ranging from paintings to sculpture, fabric art and embroidery to collage — and will be on display through Oct. 12.

“It kind of evolved and we eventually came up with works that addressed, not only book censorship in the past and present, but we also focused on the role that libraries play in protecting intellectual freedom,” says Spencer, who helped organize the exhibition. “It’s probably going to look like a very provocative exhibition that brings all of our work together, that confronts not only banned books, but silenced histories and the ongoing fight for free expression.”

Spencer is a local photographer, painter, and digital artist whose own work is included in the show. She took some time to talk about censorship and the fight against it. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version of this conversation, visit sandiegouniontribune.com/author/lisa-deaderick/.)

Q: How did you all go about conceptualizing this latest exhibition? Why did you want to focus on intellectual freedom within the space of public libraries?

A: I started doing a little study before I worked on my project, and I noticed that so many books dealing with LGBTQ stories were being eliminated from libraries. That was kind of disturbing. Personally, I also noticed that there were other women in the past who have dealt with censorship, such as The Guerilla Girls (who were at San Diego State recently and I attended one of the presentations they had there).

Now, we have our current situation here in San Diego. Most people wouldn’t think that we had any problems with censorship, but we have. Back in 2023, at the Rancho Penasquitos Library, they had an LGBTQ display for the library, but there were two ladies who came in and checked out all of the books on the shelves — I call it absconding with them — because they felt the books were inappropriate for children to have access to them. It backfired. The Library Foundation San Diego brought in a flood of donations to help replace the books. There have been other censorship examples and it’s really upsetting, so there are things that I’ve become aware of myself. I think other artists in our group have become aware of it, too, so each of them are going to come to this subject with their own view and their own take. It’s going to be rather interesting to see what they say.

Q: What can you tell us about your contribution to this exhibition?

A: I worked on it for several months because, as I mentioned, it was originally going to be just about censored books, so I had something in mind for that, but as the scope was expanded, I tried to think in terms of that what was being censored now. Then, I began to delve a little more deeply into why is this happening and remembered reading a little bit about Project 2025.

I have just one piece I worked on for a couple of months. It is cartoonish in nature, but it’s an accordion fold book that fits into a black box. The reason for a black box is when a plane crashes, you try to find out what went wrong and you look in the black box. In the black box, there are instructions. Project 2025 has guidelines for the president and his administration on how to deal with our democracy and take it down, so my book is like a handbook titled, “How to Survive Project 2025,” so it’s my survival manual.

Q: What was your process for creating these pieces? What kind of research informed your creative work? What are the ways in which we can see that in these pieces?

A: I was very much inspired by a book called “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder. I really liked what he did with an illustrated form of it, illustrated by Nora Krug, and it made it so much more readable. And I thought creating a survival book and more of a creative image, like she did, might be a little more powerful than just words on a page. There are words on the pages, but it’s a combination that is more visible when you’re thinking about viewing a very small book under plexiglass. You want it as readable as possible, not necessarily the words, but the images, can hopefully be read by your viewing audience. So, that’s why I created it that way.

Q: The library’s description of this show includes this line: “This exhibition includes artists’ interpretations of the realities of censorship.” How would you describe what “the realities of censorship” have looked like in your own life?

A: Let’s see, as a woman, the censorship of certain words that can be used to describe people I know, have been eliminated. I think what has really struck me the most was probably a book I read called, “The Librarian” by Amanda Jones. It’s about her fight to keep censorship out of her Louisiana community library. I was so impressed with how stalwart she was, of how she fought back. It is people, women like her, throughout my life, who I’ve tried to emulate in one way or another, either through my art or my political activity; I’m a volunteer in different groups and I’m impressed by women who stand out. In this case, this woman was very out there and got support from her community; that’s how we push back. That’s how, even as artists, we can push back on this type of censorship. Artists in the past have always been good at it, and I was reminded and I thought, ‘Why not? Why not allow myself to be inspired by these very strong, brave women who are willing to push back throughout our history?’ I suppose, in the beginning, I was somewhat naive when I volunteered to do this job. As it became a little more complicated, we were like, ‘Oh my goodness, what did I get into here?,’ but reading about this woman and how she dealt with censorship in her library really inspired me. Then I was, in turn, inspired by discussions that I was having with my fellow FIG members, like, “We can do this.” So, I got inspired, as I always am, by fellow women artists.

Q: In recent years, we’ve seen an increase in the suppression of certain books, works of art, particular points of view in media — what do you want to say about censorship and freedom of expression through these works?

A: There is a way to stop the censorship and that is to stand up against it and not to bow down. You’ll see panels in the accordion-shaped book that I created that deal with it. First, one of the panels says, “Here’s a book that needs to be read.” It’s a couple of books, actually, that need to be read, but have been banned. Then it moves on to, “Here’s what you want to watch out for,” “What you do not need to do,” “How do you stand up?,” “How do you fight back?,” that kind of thing. That’s the way I envisioned it.