UltraViolet Archive, October 2022
UltraViolet Archive is a nomadic collection of endangered creative works—including films, graphic novels, music, literature, visual and performing arts—that were banned, challenged, or partially censored. The Flux Island installation features a Halloween-themed collection of frequently censored works including Scary Stories, Goosebumps, Bone, Sandman, and The Walking Dead. A unique color coding system indicates the threat level that each work faced.
Governor’s Island, Colonels Row House 404A (Flux Factory)
Please see below for featured works and reference materials:
Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
This series made the top of the American Library Association’s most frequently challenged books of the 1990’s
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade1999
https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/14/20804222/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-banned-books
Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
This series was number 15 on the American Library Association’s most frequently challenged books of the 1990’s
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade1999
The Walking Dead (series)
The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman is in the American Library Association’s top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019
https://cbldf.org/2019/06/idaho-school-bans-the-walking-dead-comics/
Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
This series was number 16 on the American Library Association’s most banned and challenged books of 2010-2019
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019
https://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/case-study-bone/
Bone has been challenged on the basis of “political viewpoint, racism and violence.”
Sandman (series) by Neil Gaiman
“The comic series and graphic novel have been challenged and banned in libraries since its publication. Gaiman’s graphic novel has been challenged and removed from some libraries because of ‘anti-family themes,’ ‘offensive language,’ and for being ‘unsuited for age group.’ Most often, opposition to the series has arisen when it has been shelved in the young adult section of the library.” – Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
https://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/case-study-sandman/
Reference Books
100 Banned Books by Nicholas J. Karolides
Censored Books by Nicholas J. Karolides, John M. Kean, Lee Burress
120 banned books : censorship histories of world literature by Nicholas J. Karolides
A Decade of Censorship in America, by L.B. Woods
Banned Books, by Anne Lyon Haight
Banned in the USA by Herbert Foerstel
Book Selection and Censorship