Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks was invited to participate in a 2007 art exhibition on the theme "The Dog in Art" in the town of Tällerud in Värmland, Sweden. Vilks submitted three pen and ink drawings depicting Muhammad as a "roundabout dog," a popular Swedish installation art meme that year. Vilks was already participating with drawings of Muhammad in another exhibition in Vestfossen, Norway, on the theme "Oh, My God". Vilks' original intention was to "examine the political correctness within the boundaries of the art community." According to Vilks, the art and culture communities in Sweden repeatedly criticize the United States and Israel, whereas Muslim values are rarely even questioned.
For more about Vilks and the controversy about his drawings that depict the Muslim Prophet Mohammed as a dog, see Wikipedia. (Note: as with many websites about Islam or politics, this Wikipedia page is blocked by censors in most Muslim-majority countries, even in supposedly 'liberal' ones like the UAE.)
Here are the three cartoons.* Evidently, these cartoons are what prompted a recent assassination attempt against Lars, resulting in the murder of an innocent male bystander, Finn Nørgaard, and the wounding of three Danish police. The same terrorist went on that night to kill another innocent man (Dan Uzan, a Jewish man) standing next to a synagogue, and wounded another two Danish police, before the terrorist (Update: 22-yo Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein) himself was killed by police. http://www.utsandiego.com/...
May Finn Nørgaard and Dan Uzan Rest In Peace, and may healing come to their families and those wounded.
Finn Nørgaard, age 55, worked in the film industry and directed and produced a number of documentary films, killed at the art discussion.
Dan Uzan, age 37, was a longtime security guard for the 7,000-strong local Jewish community. He was guarding a building behind the synagogue during a bat mitzvah when he was killed with a gunshot to the head.
Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said "all indications are that the shooting ... was a political attack and therefore an act of terror."
by Lars Vilks
by Lars Vilks
artist unknown, possibly by Lars Vilks
*
The first two are definitely by Lars Vilks, I'm not sure about the third -- possibly an imitation? I'll update and replace with the correct one, if/when I find out. thanks for any leads.
Roundabout dogs:
roundabout dogs started appearing in Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden (and were therefore originally called de östgötska rondellhundarna [a Swedish pun]), after a sculptured dog that was part of the official roundabout installation Cirkulation II by sculptor Stina Opitz had been vandalised and later removed. The original dog had been made of concrete, and Stina Opitz was planning to make a new version of it after the vandalism, when someone placed a homemade wooden dog on the roundabout. The dog was given a concrete dogbone by another anonymous artist. Soon after the media reported these developments, roundabout dogs started appearing in various places around the country.
Peter Nyberg, the maker of the first 'Rondellhund', of Linköping told tabloid Expressen that his dogs were intended to "mock the state-employed artists, who get so much money to make sculptures that we can do just as well ourselves".
Definitions of 'blasphemy':
the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.
1 a. Contemptuous or profane speech or action concerning God or a sacred entity.
b. An instance of this.
2.a. Irreverent or impious action or expression in regard to something considered inviolable or sacrosanct.
b. An instance of this.
[Middle English blasfemie, from Late Latin blasphēmia, from Greek blasphēmiā, from blasphēmein, to blaspheme; see blaspheme.]
blaspheme:
1. To speak of (God or a sacred entity) in an irreverent, impious manner.
2. To revile; execrate.
[Middle English blasfemen, from Old French blasfemer, from Late Latin blasphēmāre, from Greek blasphēmein, from blasphēmos, evil-speaking, blasphemous; see bhā- in Indo-European roots.]
1. (Theology) (tr) to show contempt or disrespect for (God, a divine being, or sacred things), esp in speech
2. (Theology) (intr) to utter profanities, curses, or impious expressions
blasphemy
1. (Ecclesiastical Terms) blasphemous behaviour or language
2. (Law) Also called: blasphemous libel law the crime committed if a person insults, offends, or vilifies the deity, Christ, or the Christian religion
n., pl. -mies.
1. impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.
2. an act of cursing or reviling God.