Minister of Arts and Culture Lulu Xingwana's reaction to a controversial art exhibition has been labelled "conservative and reactionary".

Penny Siopis, an established artist and academic, said she was "shocked by Xingwana's attitude".

Siopis is an associate professor of fine arts at the University of the Witwatersrand.

"The fact is, as a minister she is a representative of our Constitution. It does not matter if she has a personal distaste for what she sees," Siopis told The Times.

Xingwana slammed the Innovative Women exhibition at Constitution Hill last year, calling it "pornographic".

She left the opening of the exhibition without delivering her speech and called the exhibition immoral and offensive.

Monde Ngonyama, deputy chairman of the National Film and Video Foundation of SA, said Xingwana's views stem from "a culture of regimentation."

"The minister ... on behalf of the government and the ANC, is on supersonic speed towards a head-on collision with free-minded people," he said. "South African works do not shine on international stages [because] people have to look over their shoulders before expressing an opinion."