Portraits versus Book Bans: The Work of Artist Karen Moss
By Andrea Asuaje and Callie Crossley • "Under the Radar with Callie Crossley," GBH News • March 7, 2025
Karen Moss, "Portrait of Kata Hull." Photo credit: Will Howcroft, courtesy of Karen Moss
Karen Moss’s exhibit, “We Read Banned Books!” at the Boston Public Library, pointedly includes a portrait of fellow artist Kata Hull reading a 1970s edition of “Our Bodies, Ourselves.”
Callie Crossley of WGBH interviewed Moss about the series of paintings. Each portrait depicts a single person reading a banned book of their choice. Moss hopes the portraits will help raise awareness of ongoing book bans across the country. The number of challenged and banned books has been increasing every year. Over 4200 individual books were targeted between 2023 and 2024, reports the American Library Association.