The city of florence will deliver an award to Hope Carrasquilla, the Tallahassee (Florida) school principal forced to resign after at least three parents complained to the institution that they considered it “inappropriate” for Carrasquilla to show images of the David by Miguel Ángel to his 11 and 12 year old students.
The Florentine mayor, Dario Nardella, will personally invite the teacher Hope Carrasquilla, while Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Academy Gallerywhere the sculpture is exhibited, extended an invitation this Monday to the parents of the students to explain the difference between “nudity” and “pornography.”
A student from Florida is licensed to see students show the photo of David di Michelangelo. Swapping art for pornography is simply ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/Gn8UM3HUqe
—Dario Nardella (@DarioNardella) March 25, 2023
“I am amazed with these parents, David is the symbol of the Renaissance that puts the human in the center of attention in its perfection (…) it is the expression of our European culture, the Renaissance has absolutely nothing pornographic,” Hollberg told local media , quoted by the EFE news agency.
For Hollberg, associating this icon with pornography derives from a “distorted” vision, since David “is the quintessential work of art, so clean, so sober and clear in its expression.”
For his part, Mayor Nardella assured on his social networks that “confusing art with pornography is simply ridiculous.”
“I will personally invite the teacher to Florence to give her recognition on behalf of the city. Art is civilization and whoever teaches it deserves respect, ”she announced this Saturday on her Facebook profile.
The sculpture of David by Michelangelo, one of the symbols of the Italian Renaissance and quintessential example of the classical canon of beauty, is one of the best-known and most reproduced works of universal art.
Sculpted by Michelangelo, the statue represents the nude biblical king, whose life is described in the books of Samuel, recognized as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
However, the US press announced last week the resignation of the director of the Tallahassee Classica School, after her superiors gave her an ultimatum following complaints from parents because the content shown in her classes (which in addition to the David, included Adan creation and Ethe birth of Venus), would have “disturbed” the children.
Carrasquilla, who has spent 20 years dedicated to teaching in public, private and “autonomous” schools, explained that the reason was that the sixth grade arts program included classical sculptures of nude characters such as David, something that was not liked by parents and other managers.
The president of the school, Barney Bishop, confirmed to the channel that he gave Carrasquilla an ultimatum and explained that he supports the creation of a law that gives parents more control over the education their children receive during primary education.
Florida: School principal resigns for showing Michelangelo’s “David” in class
The parents complained because they do not like “‘woke’ indoctrination”, according to the president, although the local press specified that their complaint had to do with not being informed in advance of the type of images their children were going to see, as established by a school protocol for “potentially controversial” images.
At the initiative of the Governor Ron DeSantiswho was re-elected in 2022 for four more years and seems determined to be a contender for the Republican nomination in 2024, a set of laws have been approved in Florida that prohibit not only teaching but talking about certain topics in schools, such as gender identity , sexuality, systemic racism and others.
