Photographer: Nagib El-Desouky
I have been a member of deviantArt for almost four years and during my time there I have had my share of runs-in with the admin and some fellow members. I have also encountered photographers whose work I truly admire and Pavel Kiselev, from Russia, is one of them. Imagine my disbelief when I realised his account, in the name of Photoport, had been banned from dA permanently.I could not help writing a journal on dA asking people whether they knew anything about it. I received many comments, but no, no one had a clue. Lightness did however contact a dA admin and was told that according to the site's policy bans are only given when there are repeated breaches of policy and offending behaviour. Lightness added that Pavel is a very private person, basing such a comment on her experience of interacting with him as a group moderator.
Photographer: Nagib El-Desouky
"I've come to realize that what each of us considers unacceptable and inappropriate is not universal" she goes on to say in her comment. "What offends me may not offend someone else. So you learn to click away and not look at works you don't like. For me the line is with child pornography - zero tolerance, and I will report it.". I totally agree with you, Lightness. We all have different values and different ways of dealing with what we regard as offensive. I too cannot tolerate child pornography. But it just seems so unbelievable that Pavel should have been guilty of behaviour so unacceptable as to warrant a ban. His work is tasteful, really beautiful. As a dA member he was amongst the most popular with over three million page views.
Fortunately, his work can still be seen on Art Limited, Flickr, Facebook and his own website. He has been featured in Univers d'Artistes - I particularly like his "Soft Geometry" series (I am reproducing below one of Pavel's photographs with due acknowledgment).
Wishing you all the best for the future, Pavel. I hope your photography continues to blossom. I cannot tire of viewing it.
Photographer: Pavel Kiselev. Model: Unknown
(All photos modelled by Alex B unless otherwise stated)
He is one of the finest photogs on DA. I cannot believe he was kicked off. I'm in shock Alex.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have inspired Lightness post about the futility of being in shock!
DeleteI found it somewhat upsetting that Pavel should have been banned. Despite all the objections I have heard about his photography I still find it quite beautiful and I do wish his work had not been deleted.
Alex, in five years I have not seen anyone liquidated for one offense on dA. Some offenders have been tolerated for years. And some are removed for reasons having nothing to do with the quality of work they post. One group called Kafirs was removed for its racial harassment of other dA members, not for art they posted. Another artist was removed for hostile exchanges with other members in which he used not only threats but also obscene language.
ReplyDeleteSo I am not shocked. Nothing shocks me any more. I used to be critical of dA admins for not liquidating people whose work offends some of us. That's the reason I expressed the views you quoted in this post. After seeing someone's popular, fan-based account liquidated on Facebook without even a warning, I appreciate dA's hesitance to remove people.
Pavel did something against dA rules and did it repeatedly and deliberately, I am absolutely sure of that. They simply do not remove you for no reason. And they do not tolerate bad behavior that would cause other members to removed just because your work is exceptionally good. That would not be fair. I have long known that artistic talent does not necessarily mean that person also has the highest personal character.
Thank you for your thoughts. As Pavel seemed to be a very self contained person it is hard to believe he may have been upsetting other members but we do not know what happened and speculation will not get us very far. His work will be missed.
ReplyDeleteAlex, his work will be missed. I doubt we will ever know all the details of the story. It was good of you to bring the question everyone was asking out into the open. There is a fear factor attached to seeing someone's work liquidated online.
ReplyDelete