Arts festival organisers ban underpants image

An image of a man sipping wine in his underpants is among several banned by organisers of a Lincolnshire arts festival. The SO Festival, which features street art, including gigantic inflatables and roaming dinosaurs, takes place in Skegness and other local towns. Photographer John Byford's work was due to shown as part of a display in Horncastle.

But, organisers said some of the work was unsuitable. Mr Byford said: "He's sitting there in his underpants - in a rather unusual position - but you know he is enjoying himself and he is doing what we all do. That's life and that's what I do - capture life." The Skegness artist said he had grown up on the coast and his work was inspired by saucy postcards, once popular with visitors.



Mr Byford said: "I think that's what we are missing in society - we are so wrapped up in cotton wool when I do stuff like this it does provoke a reaction - but usually it's a smile or a laugh." Other rejected images include a shot of a dead sperm whale on Skegness beach and a shot of an elderly lady looking out to sea at Gibraltar Point Nature Reserve - called Waiting for God. Mr Byford said it is up to people to make their own minds up - it's not for the council and the organisers to ban them.

"If you have the image on its own it means nothing - if you have the title on its own it means nothing - but the two combined makes a piece of art. The two go hand in hand," he added. Festival director Robin Morely said he hoped to work with Mr Byford in the future but on this occasion it was decided some of his photographs were thought to be unsuitable for the event in Horncastle. He added that Mr Byford had withdrawn the entire collection because he did not want the images to be separated.