Former Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art chief curator Tiffany Fairall is suing the city of Mesa, Arizona, alleging it violated her free speech rights when she demanded that a work alluding to police brutality be removed from an exhibit Shepard Fairey. The lawsuit, filed in Arizona District Court on Oct. 31 and naming six current and former city officials as co-defendants, also alleges the city violated her rights by firing her in retaliation “for opposing discrimination.”

The lawsuit, which was first reported by contemporary southwestrecounts not only the events surrounding the exhibition of the American artist Fairey at the center of the controversy, but also attempts to convey a pattern of apparently censorious behavior by municipal employees in Mesa. Other instances outlined in the complaint include a June 2020 incident when Fairall was chastised for wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt during a virtual meeting. Another is a message received later that year suggesting that Fairall and Cindy Ornstein, the city’s director of arts and culture and executive director of the Mesa Arts Center at the time, were organizing exhibitions that were “too liberal.”

The work at the center of the controversy is a 2019 print by Fairey, My florist is a Dick (2019), which depicts a police officer with a skull, dressed in riot gear, wielding a flower-covered nightstick. The accompanying text reads: “My forager is a fool. When his day begins, your days end.” It was originally supposed to be included in the exhibition Facing the Giant: 3 Decades of Dissent at the Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, an institution housed in the city-owned Mesa Art Center. After issues were raised with My florist is a Dick in print, particularly concerned that its anti-police brutality message might offend members of the Mesa municipal police force, the Fairey exhibit and two others—personal presentations by Native American artists Thomas “Breeze” Marcus (Tohono O’odham) and Douglas Miles (San Carlos Apache, Akimel O’odham) — were delayed. Fairall claims he was told the Fairey exhibit could only go ahead if My florist is a Dick was removed.

At the time, several free speech organizations—including the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona, and Pen America—issued statements condemning Mesa’s actions.

“Government agencies can determine which art projects to fund and display, but their First Amendment obligations explicitly prevent them from rejecting projects with messages they don’t like while allowing those they support,” Elizabeth Larison, director of the advocacy program for arts and culture at NCAC and Jared Keenan, legal director of ACLU Arizona, wrote in a joint statement. “Efforts to prevent the exhibition of a work of art because it might cause offense do not justify censorship. In this era of intense political polarization, many works of art can be offensive to one’s point of view.”

The Fairey exhibition finally opened on October 7, with My florist is a Dick included. The show closed on January 21, 2024. According to the complaint, Fairall experienced several health problems during the censorship controversy, some of which were exacerbated by the stress of the conflict and the additional red tape imposed on his activities as a result. Last February, she filed complaints of retaliation and gender and disability discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In May of this year, the city fired Fairfall.

In the lawsuit, Fairfall claims the entire saga negatively affected his “long-term employment and earning potential” and caused him “humiliation, trauma, extreme stress, depression and physical and mental pain and anguish.” She alleges that Mesa violated First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights and that “defendants’ conduct unlawfully inhibits free and open discussion of issues of public importance and intimidates other city employees and community members from does not similarly engage in protected speech. “.

Fairfall is seeking a jury trial and, ultimately, relief in the form of damages, back pay, lost benefits, damages for the alleged violations of his rights and injury to his reputation and mental health, plus interest. She is also seeking reinstatement or pro rata compensation. She is represented by the Phoenix law firm Shields Petitti & Zoldan.

In a statement to contemporary southwesta spokesman for the city of Mesa said “we will refrain as litigation is pending.”