Michael Dickinson

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Tyrant's Pants collage by Michael Dickinson showing President Bush

For the horse race trainer, see Michael Dickinson (horse racing)

Michael Dickinson (born 1950 in Durham) is an English artist living in Turkey, who works with political and satirical collages. His work has been the cause of controversy. He is a member of the Stuckist movement.

Michael Dickinson makes collages in the basic fashion of cutting out images and gluing them on paper. The content has been addressed to world leaders and particularly to US President George W. Bush.

In May 2005, Dickinson's web site, "The Carnival of Chaos", was blanked and he was informed by the host Tripod (a member of the Lycos group), "You are no longer an authorized member of Tripod. You have been removed because your web site violated our Terms of Service." This occurred after he had posted a collage, Tyrant's Pants, showing Bush in his underpants with a cruise missile coming out of his rear and a swastika on his right buttock. The collage was a response to a photo which had appeared with the headline "Tyrant's in his pants" on the front page of the British tabloid newspaper The Sun, showing captive Saddam Hussein in underpants.^[1]

Best in Show collage by Michael Dickinson showing Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as a dog given a rosette by President Bush

In June 2006 he was informed by Turkish authorities that he would be prosecuted for "insulting the Prime Minister's dignity" for displaying a collage showing the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as a dog being presented with a rosette by President Bush in a pet show. The charge carries a sentence of 1 to 3 years.^[2]

Charles Thomson, co-founder of the Stuckist movement, wrote to British Prime Minister Tony Blair asking for his intervention:^[3]

It is intolerable that a country applying for EU membership should censor freedom of political comment in this way. I trust you will communicate your strongest condemnation and ask for this case to be abandoned immediately. I ask for your assurance that you will oppose Turkish EU membership in the strongest terms, until Turkey adopts the attitudes of the civilised world towards human rights.

Thomson commented: "If Blair doesn’t intervene, he is condoning the violation of human rights. If Saddam Hussein isn’t allowed to get away with it in Iraq, why should Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey?"^[4]

Michael Dickinson, who was educated at Fyling Hall School, lives and works as an English teacher in Istanbul. He is the founder of the Istanbul branch of the Stuckist art movement. He is also a writer, playwright and actor.