South African artist Brett Bailey has had his show, “Exhibit B” cancelled. The very controversial work has been petitioned against by some 23 000 people, with 200 people marching outside The Barbican, where the art was on show.

“Exhibit B” shows “the ‘human zoos’ that existed in the 19th-and 20th-centuries, forcing viewers to confront a heinous moment in history head on”. The show has been seen by 25 000 people in 12 cities, but The Barbican could not keep it open.

“We find it profoundly troubling that such methods have been used to silence artists and performers and that audiences have been denied the opportunity to see this important work. Exhibit B raises, in a serious and responsible manner, issues about racism; (…) with the responses from participants, audiences and critics alike being overwhelmingly positive.”

The reality of human zoos 200 years ago is terrifying. Bailey explains one of his pieces, named ‘A Place in the Sun’. It featured a black woman chained to the bed of a French colonial officer. “It’s a picture of unimaginable suffering. She is sitting there looking in the mirror and waiting to be raped. It’s the only way she can feed her family,” Bailey explained.

Over 150 actors have been involved with Bailey and “Exhibit B”, but many people have had a problem with “a white artist orchestrating a “human zoo” of black actors”.

Check out The Huffington Post.