Foots acquitted, statues are not obscene
Foots sculpture “Eva and Eve”, before they were painted
(CNS): Cayman Brac artist Ronald Gregory Kynes, known as “Foots”, said he wanted to cry when he was acquitted of the charge of being in possession of an obscene publication Wednesday, after Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gunn found that the pieces of art in question were neither obscene nor tending to corrupt morals, as claimed by the prosecution. Speaking to the press after the verdict was delivered in Summary Court on Cayman Brac, Kynes said the whole case had been a “witch hunt” and that it had “taken its toll on me”.
Since Kynes was acquitted, the case is now closed. However, if he had been found guilty in an interim verdict of the offences under the Penal Code, the question of the artist’s freedom of expression under the Bill of Rights would have been argued before a final verdict could have been reached.
The trial, which took place in April, surrounded four sculptures, which were among a number of pieces that Foots had created that were on property he owns on the South Side of the island. Some Brac residents had complained to the police about these particular sculptures, claiming they found them offensive because they were obscene.
“LGBT” depicts two figures, one of which is either kneeling in front of the other or is a child, which witnesses that appeared for the crown during the trial said was one woman performing oral sex on another woman; “Eva and Eve” depicts two figures embracing, which the witnesses said was one woman kissing another woman’s breast; “Hekate” is the armless figure of a woman with her hair draping over her breasts and a skull in the area of her navel; and “Isis”, another armless woman with bare breasts and a glass triangle in her pubic area.
The magistrate sought to define what is obscene and what tends to corrupt morals using UK case law, since these terms, although they appear in the Cayman Penal Code, have not been defined legally here.
She also made a site visit to where three of the statues are located and watched videos made by the RCIPS of the fourth statue, “Eva and Eve”, which is now on private property, and concluded that the witnesses’ perceptions of this and of “LGBT” were wrong. She said she did not believe that they had intended to deceive but that their perceptions had perhaps been influenced by their religious beliefs, their personalities and animosity towards the defendant.
Describing “Isis”, the magistrate said that while the breasts were exposed and the nipples clear, she noted that breasts have a biological function — they produce milk for babies — and are not inherently sexual. If a person exposed their breasts in public it may be shocking but “Isis” is an inanimate object. “Save for a very few prudish individuals”, she said, the statue was neither obscene nor tending to corrupt morals.
The claim that one figure in “Eva and Eve” was kissing or “sucking” the breasts of the other, as claimed by the witnesses, was “clearly a mistake”, Gunn said, noting that the lips were not touching the other figure. She said that although they have female forms, there was nothing to indicate that they were naked and in a sexual act, rather that they were more like a manikin. The deputy director or public prosecutions had said that their gender was irrelevant and she agreed, and also found that their age (Kynes had claimed that one was the young daughter of the other) would not affect the outcome.
The statue “LGBT” was the one that caused “the greatest concern”, she said, because of the claim that it depicted oral sex. The face of the second figure is looking up and the mouth is in the general direction of the groin of the other.
“I can appreciate how, once the suggestion has been made that this is oral sex”, that other people would also conclude that this is what is happening. “A sexually explicit depiction of oral sex might offend,” she said but noted that here, the pubic areas of the statues are not defined, the mouth was near but not in contact with the other figure and that there was nothing to indicate that this is a sexual act.
“I am sure the overwhelming view of people who saw the statues without the suggestion of oral sex, would not find them obscene,” Gunn said. She could also not find an obvious sexual connotation in “Hekate”, and even taken together the statues were not obscene or tending to corrupt morals.
Acquitting Kynes, she said it was therefore not necessary to hear arguments regarding the Constitution.
After the trial, Kynes told CNS that for the last four months the trial had had a profound effect on him. “I lived it, breathed it and ate it,” he said. Clearly emotional and close to tears, he said the whole thing had been a witch hunt by hateful people but that he bore them no ill will.
He also said that his statues had been vandalised numerous times but that the police did nothing about that.
Check out CNS Local Life Friday for more on Foots and his statues.
The only sensible decision reached here by the Magistrate! Congrats Foots!
In no other country except maybe Iran or Saudi Arabia would anyone be charged for obscenity for artwork or sculpture. Something is very wrong with Cayman.
It is the brain-washed religious lunatics. They are indoctrinated from birth. It is child abuse really.
Good job Foots!
I can only imagine how hard it must be for those Christian Cayman Brac men to not look at those women wearing short skirts and exposing cleavage. It must be so difficult to resist starring at those obscene yet voluptuous curves and continue to have the strength to not corrupt their morals as they would never find pleasure by interacting with that type of dressed woman. TIME TO PUT FASHION ON TRIAL FOR THE BIBLE BANGERS ????????
Foots made a very good point about the bump’n’grind carnivals…another shocker is the annual corporate Christmas parties where the bump’n’grind dance ritual moves make Dirty Dancing look like a pensioners tai-chi class.
Good stuff. Not a fan of the judge, but at least she got this one right. Good on you, Foots. You certainly show more fortitude than I would towards backward thinkers over there.
I believe that the magistrate erroneously based her judgement on the basis of corruption of UK morals and not Cayman morals: two totally different things..
Cayman morals? you mean the same “sell my country and birth right for dollars” morals? That’s more obscene than anything Foots could make.
Thank God, common sense prevails. Now let me get back to enjoying the dutty whining on display in broad-daylight in the street, during batabano and caymas carnivals.
in foots i trust.
Very poor English, I always thought that the plural of ‘Foot’ was ‘Feet’.
I am only offended by the gigantic crapitude of the sculptures. Anyhoo, Foots got more than his money’s worth in publicity so no need to feel bad for him.
This is all fine and dandy, but I have one question.
Is Jeffery enjoying the World Cup?
I am, thank you for asking.
8.45am… we need to be careful. My take: if you leave your country and are allowed to live in someone else country you all need to be more respectful. I know I would. You are very ungrateful foots or feets… may be you needs wings. Like: just go.
When can we expect Foots to produce a rendition of Jesus with his Hoes?
Jesus was a gardener?
What do you mean? Would you care to elaborate?
Didn’t he love prostitutes?
Yes he did, but not in that way. 🙂
He still does.
Almost like that Facebook page that just shows young children in bikinis, based in the Brac. Surely nothing to it ;).
A ridiculous waste of everyone’s time.
Meanwhile on pornhub…
YouPorn is waaaay better. You’re welcome.
I’m an x-hamster gal myself.
Marry me!
Xvideos all the way baby.
Image fap pretty good too
I prefer to make my own POVs
You da bomb
Let us hope the police do more to protect the artist’s property and work in the future.
1.42 Lets hope they do less
Nice to see active support for criminal damage and trespass by the ignorant.
Good! Carry on making more statues!
Free artistic expression survives in Cayman.
This is great news for freedom of speech in the Cayman Islands!
Excellent. If art is not allowed to offend the thin-skinned then it would be a dark dark day for free speech.
PS There is no god. It was a fictional early human construct to explain then unknown scientific phenomena and to support prevailing hierarchical structures.
Maybe your god is fictional, but I can assure you the Creator is not. Good luck on the day.
Excellent, do explain the evidence for the existence of this Creator. As you appear to be implying a judgment day of sorts, I am assuming this is the Christian version of the fictional construct that you are referring to.
Right after you explain the impossible math to support any wild theory that you may believe in.
And as the Magistrate so rightly pointed out in the Compass article – our own government sponsors events in which suggestive sexual acts (with the emphasis on suggestive as one does not see a man’s penis physically enter into a woman’s vagina) are performed right out on the street and it all gets publicly posted on various websites – am I wrong?
So Nicky/Wendy I did not see any mention in your article of who is going to pay for Mr. Kynes expenses and the associated emotional distress – as someone needs to be held accountable when they take someone to court and are proved to be wrong.
The high and mighty on Cayman Brac need to carefully think about removing the plank out of their own eyes before the speck that is in other eyes.
Am willing to bet that the prosecution did not see that verdict coming in!!!
While I do not necessarily agree with some of Mr. Kynes artwork, I really do wonder why nobody is complaining about the outstanding crucifix that he did just before Easter! What about the Lucifer has Risen piece that is on a satellite dish (Mr. Kynes really hit it on the spot with that piece – lot of devilish stuff come over the TV)
And was it not so long ago, that Mr. Kynes was commissioned by one of the now Cabinet members to do a bunch of statues for the Lost City?
Signed – Not a “Foots” fan, but neither am I am fan of the hypocritical prosecution
i am a foots fan, go Foots
I was on the Brac at the time of the Court there and made a point of driving there, to see them for myself. Not only did I find them unoffensive, but you have to make an effort to actually see them. It is very easy to ignore them by keeping your eyes on the road, as you should.
The only logical verdict has been reached in this case
Thankfully Cayman is not as far gone as I think it is sometimes, there is always a glimmer of hope
The real criminals are the ones who have repeatedly destroyed this man’s work, and they likely will never be held responsible for their actions
Foots you have support don’t let those radicals dissuade you
Diogenes
It most definitely was a “witch hunt”.
Congrats Mr. Foots!
Now, carpe diem, use your fresh notoriety to set up an exhibition, charge an entrance fee and become Cayman’s newest tourist attraction.
– Whodatis
*While I understand the objections of some out there – those that don’t approve should simply look away.
Caymanians and the rest of the world pay billions every year to travel to Rome, Paris, and Athens to view far more graphic works of art.
ageeing with who does not feel right….
Hitler did improve Germany’s road networks. It is never 100% black and white.
Are you an artist too, Who?
Actually, yes I am.
Why?
– Who
Well geesh – so many unnecessary haters in the room.
– Who
🙂
This is nothing but mischief here. Foots would never dream of going to Saudi Arabia and displaying his art there.
Ms. Gunn appears intelligent in her remarks, but Xxxxxx (CNS: there is no but here)
The dismantling of good, honest and decent values is almost complete.
One day, you God-haters will face God and then what will you say?
Is our society free for us to express our opinion?
If Foots can put his bullshit out there, you can at least know that some of us are not happy….or is free speech dead for those of us that do not conform to your views?
You are welcome to free speech, but not to smash up other peoples property or try and get them put in jail because you disagree with their art.
I would never sanction smashing people’s art up. I cannot even imagine why you would suggest such a thing?
This world is still laden with civility. I may not agree with you and you may not agree with me, but it ends there.
I would probably just show god the YouTube clip of Stephen Fry being interviewed about god and the meaning of life!
Stephen Fry is not God, nor has he ever claimed to be. He is a human being just like you and I.
Just because he wants to shake his fist in the face of the Living God, I would suggest that this is not a wise move.
For heaven’s sake people, does not creation have a voice?
As a Bracer living in Cayman I recently visited the site where the sculptures . I suddenly wished that Mr Foots would tutor the children so that they can can become artists.His work is amazing.
Please! Saudi Arabia is not what any country should aspire to.
The fact that Saudi Arabia is the standard you are holding Cayman to, makes up the entire argument of the side in favor of free speech, and expression
Diogenes
foots…see a lawyer…i am sure there are precedents set for compensation for wrongful prosecution and being aquitted….look uner bailii.org and privy council decisions which is binding on them….i am almost syre i saw the privy gave someone compensation fir wrongful prosecution and aquittal…????
Who’s Steve?
Steve Manderson.
#FreeAnwar
A sensible decision for a case that should never have happened. Now RCIPs should be catching the people who damaged his property and be prosecuting them…allow mob rule and you will have no end of problems.
This reminds me of the old days when certain MLAs were “picked” to the Cinematography Board or whatever it was called to approve “R” rated movies before they could be shown in Cayman. One female member described a movie as disgusting filth, and said it was just as bad upon watching it for the second and third time.
The bible thumpers should foot the bill for his legal fees.
Lock Foots up and ban manikins!!
I would like to hear god’s thoughts on this outcome. Guess I’ll just wait, indefinitely.
If only the RCIP could now do some police work and arrest and prosecute the persons that criminally trespassed and vandalized his artwork… zzzzzzz
One arm of government prosecutes while another gives money to the private companies that operate Batabano and Braccannal. Glad to see the judge ruled that the government can’t have it both ways.
Congratulations to Mr. Kynes!
Below are the passages from “Letters From The Earth”
by Mark Twain (1909)
“The convention miscalled modesty has no standard, and cannot have one, because it is opposed to nature and reason, and is therefore an artificiality and subject to anybody’s whim, anybody’s diseased caprice. And so, in India the refined lady covers her face and breasts and leaves her legs naked from the hips down, while the refined European lady covers her legs and exposes her face and her breasts. In lands inhabited by the innocent savage the refined European lady soon gets used to full-grown native stark-nakedness, and ceases to be offended by it. A highly cultivated French count and countess — unrelated to each other — who were marooned in their nightclothes, by shipwreck, upon an uninhabited island in the eighteenth century, were soon naked. Also ashamed — for a week. After that their nakedness did not trouble them, and they soon ceased to think about it. ”
“You know what the human race enjoys, and what it doesn’t enjoy. It has invented a heaven out of its own head, all by itself: guess what it is like! ….
1. First of all, I recall to your attention the extraordinary fact with which I began. To wit, that the human being, like the immortals, naturally places sexual intercourse far and away above all other joys — yet he has left it out of his heaven! The very thought of it excites him; opportunity sets him wild; in this state he will risk life, reputation, everything — even his queer heaven itself — to make good that opportunity and ride it to the overwhelming climax. From youth to middle age all men and all women prize copulation above all other pleasures combined, yet it is actually as I have said: it is not in their heaven; prayer takes its place.”
“The Church still prizes the Moral Sense as man’s noblest asset today, although the Church knows God had a distinctly poor opinion of it and did what he could in his clumsy way to keep his happy Children of the Garden from acquiring it.”
“Very well, Adam and Eve now knew what evil was, and how to do it. They knew how to do various kinds of wrong things, and among them one principal one — the one God had his mind on principally. That one was the art and mystery of sexual intercourse. To them it was a magnificent discovery, and they stopped idling around and turned their entire attention to it, poor exultant young things!
In the midst of one of these celebrations they heard God walking among the bushes, which was an afternoon custom of his, and they were smitten with fright. Why? Because they were naked. They had not known it before. They had not minded it before; neither had God.
In that memorable moment immodesty was born; and some people have valued it ever since, though it would certainly puzzle them to explain why.
Adam and Eve entered the world naked and unashamed — naked and pure-minded; and no descendant of theirs has ever entered it otherwise. All have entered it naked, unashamed, and clean in mind. They have entered it modest. They had to acquire immodesty and the soiled mind; there was no other way to get it. “
smh…..these ‘christians’ are so delusional, they actually think their beliefs is the ultimate law of the universe.
Awesome news!
Great work Foots, but you might need to electrify your works to protect them from them cave dwelling vandals.
Suck it bible thumpers!!
Free Foots!
Free Steve!
Free the nipple
Free booze!
Free the herb!!
Free Willy!
Freeeeeeeeedom!
*Braveheart yell*