‘AL QAEDA’ ARTIST: NO SALE!
Balks at NY exhibit of paintings from Gitmo
A controversial exhibit and sale of art by Guantanamo detainees at a New York City college not only sparked outrage among 9/11 families, but also riled up one of the prison Picassos.
Djamel Ameziane, a former Gitmo prisoner whose work is included at John Jay College’s “Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantanamo Bay,” told The Post that he was upset that the Department of Defense is controlling the future access to detainee art.
“The US government does not get to decide whether I sell my artwork,” said Ameziane, who spent 11 years at Guantanamo, accused of recruiting terrorists for al Qaeda in Europe and Canada. “I am a free man. I created these drawings and paintings as an expression of my thoughts and feelings. Donald Trump cannot control his own thoughts and feelings. I don’t know why he thinks he can control mine.”
Ameziane, who was released to his native Algeria in 2013, said through his New York attorney that his art is no longer for sale, and he wants the works, which depict mainly benign seascapes, to hang at a museum in Washington “as a reminder of the terrible things that happened to me at Guantanamo and a reminder that I am a human being just like you.”
The John Jay art exhibit, which opened in early October, caused a firestorm of protest after the Pentagon, reportedly angered by the sale of the art at John Jay, allegedly threatened to confiscate and burn the artworks.
A spokesman for the Department of Defense told The Post late last week that the military will not destroy any of the artwork, but will no longer allow detainees to remove their work from Guantanamo in the future. In the past, detainees have given their works to their lawyers for transfer out of the facility after the military vets each piece.
Detainees at Guantanamo will now be allowed to keep “a limited amount of artwork in their cell areas — based on basic security requirements,” said Anne Leanos, Commander, US Navy and public affairs officer at the Guantanamo facility.
Meanwhile, John Jay College is urging visitors at the exhibit to keep an open mind. “I’m trying to present the art neutrally, so that visitors to the exhibit or its Web site can make up their own minds about its meaning or significance,” said curator and John Jay artcrime professor Erin Thompson. “I also want to let visitors make up their own minds about what they think should happen to the art.”
Thompson did not know if any of the art has sold because all sales are handled through the artists’ lawyers. The exhibit provides an e-mail address for anyone interested in buying the work. The artists include Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards and other suspected terrorists.
But 9/11 families — some of whom said their loved ones were educated at John Jay before perishing in the attacks — want the work removed as soon as possible.
“Why should they get any recognition?” said Rosaleen Tallon, whose brother Sean Tallon, a probationary firefighter, was killed in the terrorist attacks. “I don’t think anyone should pocket from doing wrong. It was bad judgment to display the art.”
Donald Trump cannot control his own thoughts and feelings. I don’t know why he thinks he can control mine. — Djamel Ameziane