Art and Censorship: Lessons Learned from Gina Rinehart’s Case and the Streisand Effect

Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman, recently made headlines after demanding the National Gallery of Australia to remove a portrait of her. However, it seems that Rinehart has unintentionally fallen victim to what is known as the ‘Streisand effect’, a term coined after Barbra Streisand attempted to remove an aerial photo of her California beach house from an online collection in 2003. Streisand’s efforts to suppress the images actually had the opposite effect, as almost half a million people visited the site to view the photo within a month.

The portrait of Rinehart in question was created by artist Vincent Namatjira and is just one of many portraits on display at the Canberra gallery as part of Namatjira’s first major survey exhibition. This incident has sparked renewed interest in the exhibition and has led to discussions about the impact of attempting to suppress art or information in the digital age. It serves as a reminder of the power of the internet and the potential consequences of trying to censor or control the dissemination of images and information.

Despite Rinehart’s request, the National Gallery of Australia has not indicated any plans to remove the portrait from the exhibition. The controversy surrounding the painting has only served to bring more attention to both