{"id":1001399,"date":"2026-08-15T01:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T01:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1001399\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T01:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T01:15:18","slug":"post-office-photography-exhibit-removed-for-political-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1001399\/","title":{"rendered":"Post office photography exhibit removed for \u2018political content\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ARiver Arts executive director Jonah Rabinowitz takes in an exhibit that was relocated from the Morrisville Post Office gallery, where some of the photographs were deemed to contain \u201cpolitical content.\u201d Photo by Gordon Miller\/News&Citizen<\/p>\n

This story by Patrick Bilow was first published<\/a> in the News & Citizen on Aug. 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

Morrisville arts organization River Arts removed an exhibit from the town post office\u2019s walls after complaints that the artwork was too political.<\/p>\n

River Arts has for years supported local artists by helping curate art installations in heavily trafficked public buildings throughout Morristown. The latest exhibit, displayed in the post office lobby, featured photographs of protesters at the four-way village intersection, some of whom have been gathering there nearly every Friday since the death of George Floyd in 2020.<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer, the post office requested that the exhibit be removed just weeks after it was hung due to several customer complaints about its political content, said River Arts Executive Director Jonah Rabinowitz.<\/p>\n

Olea Smith-Caland, a Morristown resident, took the photographs earlier this year. At the time, she was enrolled in an iPhone photography class taught by Lamoille Neighbors, a group that seeks to enhance the well-being of older adults in the area. Photographs produced by the class have been displayed throughout town for years, Rabinowitz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t take any curatorial process with that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just assume it\u2019s seniors. They\u2019re learning how to use their iPhones to take great photos, but also how to manipulate them in the apps. What a great program, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

While the photographs often stick to landscapes, flowers or shots of loved ones, Smith-Caland chose to focus on the frustration that the Friday protesters express.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me there was absolutely nothing about the artwork that was offensive or controversial. Quite frankly, it depicts things that all you have to do to witness on any given Friday is stick your head out the door and look up the street,\u201d Rabinowitz said. \u201cBut while one person may not think it\u2019s political, as long as another person thinks it is, that\u2019s all that\u2019s required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morristown\u2019s postmaster did not respond to a request for comment before press deadline.<\/p>\n

Rabinowitz said River Arts, like the post office, considers itself an objective institution, but that the post office achieves that metric through exclusion of artwork, while his arts organization does so through inclusion of many different political beliefs. However, he said he\u2019s sympathetic to the post office because it has its own policies to navigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say we don\u2019t have a political bent, I mean that everybody who\u2019s an individual here has their own viewpoint,\u201d Rabinowitz said. \u201cBut as an organization, we choose to show things or to invite people based upon a variety of criteria, and quite frankly, most of the times it has nothing to do with politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not this time, however.<\/p>\n

According to Rabinowitz, the post office specifically requested that River Arts remove parts of the exhibit that featured political messaging, but Rabinowitz said all the components in Smith-Caland\u2019s exhibit deserve to stay together. It\u2019s \u201call or nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The exhibit was transferred to the nonprofit\u2019s headquarters on Portland Street and a new, less-political exhibit by local artist Peggy Smith was installed at the post office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still providing a space for it to be viewed by the public,\u201d Rabinowitz said of Smith-Caland\u2019s exhibit. \u201cIf they want to come see it they can. I mean it\u2019s literally a 30-second walk from the post office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some individuals were not so happy with the settlement, according to Rabinowitz. Members of Lamoille Neighbors, for example, expressed concern that removing the artwork may have violated the artist\u2019s First Amendment right to free speech.<\/p>\n

Rabinowitz takes that claim seriously, but he\u2019s not convinced of the First Amendment violation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am personally not getting the pitchfork and going up and down the street protesting this,\u201d Rabinowitz said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it has risen to that level, but there are a lot of people in the community who did, and who do, and they have to deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the post office exhibit was the rare political test for River Arts, Rabinowitz said his role in the process was to judge neither the viewer\u2019s sensibilities nor the content of the artwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my job to judge,\u201d Rabinowitz said. \u201cIt\u2019s to facilitate. My position was to get the art displayed and make sure everyone was feeling OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"ICE\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Vermont\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby Alan J. Keays<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAugust 14, 2026, 4:28 pmAugust 14, 2026, 4:28 pm\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"State\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"River Arts executive director Jonah Rabinowitz takes in an exhibit that was relocated from the Morrisville Post Office…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1001400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,1033,171,34508,34510,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1001399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-morristown","tag-partner-stories","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117096883960406702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}