Canadian Artist Caught Passing Off Photos of British Comedians As His Own
A Canadian artist, Derek Besant, has apologised for stealing photos of British Comedians for his publicly-funded art installation in a Calgary underpass.
Claiming to have photographed 20 random Calgary natives he met in the underpass, Besant actually took the photos from the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe brochure.
Apparently worth $20,000, the installation had been in place for two years when friend of the London-based comedian Bisha K. Ali tweeted her the photos (see above).
Ali immediately recognised herself despite he face being blurred, with the quote 'I want love' superimposed over it.
"My reaction was mostly one of bemusement - why on Earth did the artist use a photograph of me? Beyond that, it's disrespectful and wrong for the artist to have pinched [a] photographer's work and used performers' likenesses without their consent."
Reeling from the controversy, Besant has asked Calgary Council to remove the installation.
"I intended my project to incorporate a theme of 'representations of strangers that could be from anywhere, in any city'. In no way did I ever mean to hurt anyone involved, and I am extremely sorry that this is the result of my misunderstanding,"
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