LONDON.- Leena McCall announced, a work of art that was removed from the Society of Women Artists’ 153rd annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries, is to be exhibited at The Leyden Gallery, London.

The painting “Ms Ruby May, Standing’ was selected by the Society for Women Artists (SWA) for their 153rd annual exhibition and subsequently removed by the Mall Gallery for being deemed ‘too pornographic and disgusting’.

The removal of Leena McCall’s erotic and feminine portrayal of Ms Ruby May, a clothed femme fatale, sparked a Twitter campaign asking people to debate #eroticcensorship, a conversation that has ignited an international response of support, concern and disagreement.  

The Leyden Gallery approached McCall and the painting is being made accessible to the public at the gallery from 11 to 26 July.

Mc Call said:  “I'm glad my painting will be available for public viewing, after its removal from the Mall Galleries and I am grateful to the Leyden Gallery for showing it.  Women's sexual identity is clearly a topic that has sparked considerable discussion online and I am keen to work with the Leyden Gallery to give that discussion a forum for debate.”

Adriana Cerne, gallery director said:  “Leyden Gallery is a relatively new London Art Gallery who actively re-dress the negative imbalance of women in art exhibitions.   Sixteen out of twenty-four artists currently on show in their Summer Salon are women. With the eagerly awaited inclusion of Leena McCall’s painting this will now be seventeen. 
 
“We look forward to the debates that will rightly follow in the wake of the decision to remove this painting on the grounds of it being 'pornographic' and 'disgusting'.”

London and Berlin based visual artist, Leena McCall is interested in exploring the female sense of erotic and how women choose to express their erotic identity.
 
‘Portrait of Ms Ruby May, Standing’ will be available to view along side other art works at The Leyden Gallery from Friday 11 -26 July.