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Lars Vilks
Denis Sinyakov
In 2007 Lars Vilks created a series of drawings depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a head on the body of a dog. Initially intended to be shown at a local art exhibition at Tällerud, Sweden, they were removed from the exhibition by the organisers, due to security concerns and fear of violence from Muslims. Later this year a number of other galleries declined to show the drawings for the same reason until a regional newspaper, Nerikes Allehanda, published one of the drawings on August 18th.
Since that very moment the Swedish artist became the prime target for radical Muslims. Publication immediately led to protests from Muslim organizations in Sweden as well as condemnations from several foreign governments including Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt. In 2010 he found himself on Al-Qaeda hit list, having survived 2 assassination plots and 3 violent attacks by that time. Vilks has been living under police protection ever since he received first death threats back in 2007. At home in Sweden he has round-the-clock armed police protection and while in Denmark he travels with bodyguards from the Swedish security service, Säpo. After the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, Vilks requested that the security around him be stepped up and later confirmed it had been, without giving details.
Denis Sinyakov filmed Lars Vilks’ daily routine in Linköping where he lectured at local University and was interviewed by HS journalists. The security guards followed him everywhere during shooting.
Only 3 days later, at an event called ‘Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression’ in Copenhagen the artist survived another attempt on his life. Automatic gunfire left one civilian dead and three police officers wounded. The gunman was killed in gunfire with police early next morning. However, In March 2015, Vilks appeared in public again to receive the Sappho Award from the the Danish Free Press Society.