Student Art Display Causes Controversy

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By Liz Tufts

An art display inside Mount Holyoke College is stirring up some controversy. The display is of pictures taken from the popular web site -- Facebook. Some students say it's an invasion of their privacy.

It's one of the most popular social networking sites on the internet. Students are using Facebook to talk with their friends, post pictures and even post personal information about themselves for anyone to see. And it's that lack of privacy that was the inspiration for one student artist at Mount Holyoke College.

"Friend is now a verb, tagged, all of these new things have changed our language, " said Martha Martinez, who created the art display.

Martinez decided to show students at Mount Holyoke what exactly they are getting themselves into when they sign up for sites like Facebook or Myspace. She posted more than 3,000 pictures she took right off of Facebook and made them part of an art display for all to see. "I thought why not create a space and room for people to think about it, " added Martinez.

But once students got word their personal photos were taken off their Facebook profiles and pasted on the walls, some said they felt violated.

"The artist should have contacted people before just taking pictures off of Facebook because you never know who wants pictures out, " said Senior, Emily Korab.

But it's negative reaction like this from students that was the goal of Martinez's project in the first place, to show just how un-private the internet can be. And for some students, her concept hit home.

"I thought it was a really good idea, face book is such a popular website and it's really important to be aware of what's going on your profile, it's good to bring the awareness, " said junior, Allyce Irwin.

The Facebook Installation will be on display at Mount Holyoke College until April 15th.

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