Dorota Nieznalska, a visual artist from the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Tricity, has been sentenced to six months' community service for insulting religious feelings through one of her works. The sentence, the first of its kind in Poland, has spurred the debate on the limits of artistic freedom.

The subject of the lawsuit was an artistic installation entitled Pasja (Passion), exhibited at the Wyspa art gallery in Gdańsk. The work presented male genitalia hanging on the cross. Gdańsk's rightist councilors notified the prosecutor's office, at the same time closing the controversial exhibition.


The prosecutor demanded a fine of zl.2,000, but the court decided to increase the penalty. According to Judge Tomasz Zieliński, the offense was intentional, the profanation of a holy Christian symbol unquestionable. According to the court, a fine was insufficient, as the scandal entailed an enormous increase in Nieznalska's popularity and earnings. Prior to the scandal, not many people knew of the young artist from Gdańsk.

Nieznalska attempted to defend herself by explaining that her intention was to focus on the cult of the male body. The court found her explanation unconvincing. So, Nieznalska must perform community service for six months, 20 hours per month. During this period, she cannot leave the territory of Poland.

Both the artist-shocked, she said, by the severity of the sentence-and her lawyers, will soon seek an appeal against the judgment; if to no avail, they will then seek justice at the European Tribunal in Strasbourg.

For leftist and anti-clerical circles-with the leftist daily Trybuna especially ardent in defending Nieznalska, presenting her on its pages as the most outstanding artist of her generation-the controversial artist has become a symbol of the struggle for the artist's unrestrained freedom to express his or her views. Leftist politicians also claim that Poland's Catholic Church dictates conditions for artists and influences the sentencing policy of the state.

On the other hand, for right-wingers-especially the League of Polish Families (LPR) party, whose two deputies from the area, Gertruda Szumska and Robert Strąk, were present in court and applauded the verdict-Nieznalska is merely a tasteless provocateur, covering up her lack of genuine talent with shock tactics. Rightist politicians often raise the argument that had the artist placed the genitalia on, for example, the Star of David or the holy symbols of Islam, an international scandal would have occurred. Meanwhile, in their opinion, for insulting the Catholic majority's feelings you can still escape unpunished in Poland: in previous cases, rather than bringing a lawsuit, the prosecutor's office discontinued proceedings.

Representatives of artistic communities treated the Nieznalska case with caution. Franciszek Starowieyski, one of the best-known Polish sculptors, himself rather partial to unconventional works, said before the beginning of the lawsuit that the one to blame was not the novice artist but the curator of the Gdańsk gallery. According to Starowieyski, Nieznalska's installation was of such a low artistic standard that it should never have been exhibited. Many other known artists, while not approving of the sentence, agreed that if not for the scandal, Nieznalska's work would have stood little chance of making it into reputable galleries.