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Slow Burn

One Year: 1990 | 4. Art on Trial

Slow Burn

Slate Podcasts

News, Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Politics

4.625.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the most famous photographers in the world—and one of the most controversial. When his work came to Cincinnati in 1990, it would be at the center of a vicious fight over obscenity and the First Amendment, one that threatened the future of art in America. This episode of One Year was written by Evan Chung, One Year's senior producer. It was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Olivia Briley. It was edited by Josh Levin, One Year’s editorial director, with Joel Meyer and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Join Slate Plus to get a special behind-the-scenes conversation at the end of our season about how we put together our 1990 stories. Slate Plus members also get to listen to all Slate podcasts without any ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Spark your creativity with the Sims. Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative

0:07.0

and you have to go in search of your creative spark again. Maybe this is catching up with creative

0:11.9

friends, experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe.

0:16.0

And thanks to The Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.

0:21.0

Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free.

0:27.0

Hey, this is Josh Levine, the host of one year. I hope you're enjoying our season on 1990. This week we have a story from our senior

0:35.9

producer Evan Chang. It's about a fight over censorship and free expression and I think you'll really

0:40.8

enjoy it. But I am going to warn you that this episode includes extremely graphic sexual content.

0:46.6

So proceed at your own risk. Here's Evan.

0:51.0

When Jesse McBride was a little kid, his mom would take him all around their neighborhood.

0:56.0

They lived in downtown New York in the 70s.

0:58.6

Nobody had a lot of money, but they did have a community.

1:01.8

My mother was in the kind of punk rock scene at that time.

1:05.4

I remember walking a lot and going to like, I just go to artist studios and they lived in their studios and it was rough, but it was very intimate in a way.

1:14.7

They were in the middle of one of the most storied and creative periods in New York's

1:19.6

history and that creativity is at the center of Jesse's earliest memories.

1:24.0

There's one moment he'll never forget.

1:27.0

It was in 1976, when he was about five years old.

1:30.0

I remember my mom saying Robert was going to come over and take some pictures of me.

1:35.0

Robert was an ambitious young photographer and a regular at the bar where Jesse's mom was a server.

1:41.0

She had posed for him before and now it was Jesse's turn to get his picture taken.

1:46.0

I just have this memory of him being in like a leather jacket and he had his cameras and there was a big window in the kitchen and he was sort of lit from behind.

...

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