Artist sorry for using comedians' images in Calgary subway

The artist who used images of British comedians for a project in a Canadian underpass without their permission has issued an apology.

Derek Michael Besant was shamed when it was revealed that images he had used to represent people he spoke to in subway in Calgary, Alberta, turned out to be comics who appeared at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe.

In an email to Chortle tonight, he said: ‘When I received some torn out pages from a handout flyer with these faces,  my impression was they were already out in the public domain.  

‘Therefore, I thought they could be collaged as backgrounds to be further interrupted with text elements for the 4th Street community art-site concept. 

‘I intended my project to incorporate a theme of "representations of strangers that could be from  anywhere, in any city…"  My premise was to open up a conversation centred around "who are we - in cities".

‘I’ve initiated that the temporary artwork be removed immediately and want to apologise to all concerned.

‘In no way did I ever mean to hurt anyone involved, and I am extremely sorry that this is the result of my misunderstanding.’

Besant exhibited at the 2015 Fringe, and used at least 12 comedians in the 20 giant, blurry Polaroid-type pictures that were unveiled in the underpass later that year, after winning an almost £12,000 commission from the city.

He had not sought the permission of the comedians or the photographers who took them.

But the game was up when a friend of one of the comedians, Bisha K Ali, happened to spot her likeness in the subway and sent her the image. She posted it on Twitter and identified some of the other comics, too… then social media started filling in the gaps.

‘Morally, this is not right,’ she said. ‘This is an artist using the work of other artists and portraying it as their own. Artists are supposed to support each other.’

Earlier, the city’s general manager of community services, Kurt Hanson said the images were being taken down.

He said: The artist has said that we should remove the installation. We will be doing this and are considering our next steps.’

As well as featuring in the Canadian press, the story has made the Times and the BBC since Chortle first reported it.

Photographer Andy Hollingworth – who took a portrait of Harriet Kelmsley used in the underpass – says the comedians and the photographers ought to be compensated. 

Sofie Hagen, Ashley Storrie, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Abi Roberts and Markus Birdman are among the other comedians whose likenesses have been used.

When the project was unveiled, Besant spoke of how he spent time in the underpass observing those who passed through, and that he wanted to directly represent the public.

'It has to do something that acknowledges people in that area,' he told Canada's Metro newspaper at the time. The newspaper said Besant wanted to represent Calgarians who cross the walkway every day

And the Avenue Calgary website said that the artist  'chose the 20 people at random from the pedestrians he met at the underpass. Though each phrase is pulled from his interviews with those people, they're not direct quotes from the person photographed'

When it announced the CA$20,000 commission, the city of Calgary explained that the piece was 'a series of printed portraits and text representing a cross-section of the community.'

Here are images from the artwork, and the comedians' Fringe entries they were lifted from:

Published: 29 Nov 2017