And never more so than when it comes to African women and girls, the world’s favourite target for rescue, the population everyone loves to speak for and speak about, but rarely cares to listen to. It’s tragic that in 2012, this basic tenet of any political art or advocacy is continually ignored by the entitled. I don’t feel the underlying subject matter (FGM) takes away from that.Īnd yet more context and analysis has emerged, this more eloquently expresses what I was trying to say earlier: Regardless, I agree with your notion about the work’s revelation of attitudes about race and white exoticism of Black women. It’s possible attendees there had no idea. However, I would have known he was speaking out against female genital mutilation with this piece having done a lot of research on the subject. If that’s what he were trying to do, I wouldn’t know it. His art is Western and originates from a completely different perspective. I don’t for a second believe that Makode Linde is even remotely attempting to imitate African art. It is a ridiculous notion! If a person is Black and Jewish, does that make it inappropriate for them to speak out about prejudice and anti-semitism against Jewish people? If a person is Black and caucasian, is it not appropriate for them to speak out against unequal treatment of Black people in the American justice system? Saying that is like saying the reverend Al Sharpton cannot speak for all Black Americans because some of them are mixed. The fact that the artist is of “mixed race” (if he even is) is of no consequence. It was a fabulous piece of art that accomplished EXACTLY what the artist wanted it to do. (Note, the event was not specifically for fighting FGM.) The attitudes of the onlookers was vital to the success of the artist’s mission. Although their (apparent) reactions weren’t appropriate for the subject matter, I commend Liljeroth and the other the guests for going to the World Art Day event, which celebrated art and it’s importance. The media has tried to portray this whole event as some kind of planned racist party, when actually, Linde had something very important to say. But the lack of compassion in the snippet of the event that we do see is disturbing. The video released may not tell a complete story. The response of the viewers played right into that mission. The artist succeeded in his in his primary mission – that was to shine a spotlight on the state of racial attitudes in Sweden. But deep down, they don’t really realize how FGM is hurting real people. To the contrary, the performance showed everyone that on the surface, these people say they care about protecting African girls and stopping FGM. I don’t think this performance trivialized the issue or portrayed FGM as a joke. I personally found the performance very disturbing and probably would have had considerable trouble cutting into that cake. In my opinion, he accomplished that quite well. Makode Linde’s stated purpose for this work was to bring attention to the torture of female genital mutilation. Makode Linde is know for his provocative artwork meant to bring attention to Swedish attitudes toward Black people. Oh, and way to go with the respect for others, ladies (not). Of course Swedes are uncomfortable with the photos – they are meant to be! Linde is throwing their racism right in their faces, after all.
#Makonde linde full#
And the crowd pictured laughing all around her sure looks like it’s full of assholes, too.” “Many Swedes are incredibly uncomfortable with photos from the event, where it appears that Liljeroth is not troubled at all by her role in the performance art, smiling, laughing, and drinking. Jezebel (following suit with several media outlets), rather than attempting to explain or understand the history and issues being brought to light by the artist, chose to jump on the “OH EM GEE THAT SWEDISH OFFICIAL SHOULD APOLOGIZE” racism shout out bandwagon – complete with baseless reproach. At the event, a moving piece of performance art by Makode Aj Linde featured a Venus of Willendorf shaped cake, dressed in black icing and African jewelry, headed by the artist in blackface screaming in agony with every slice of Venus’ nethers – in relevant fashion, the cutting starts at her most intimate parts. The popular, pop-centric feminist blog released an article today criticizing a Swedish Official, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, who participated in a performance to raise awareness about female genital mutilation in Africa. And most people just don’t get it.Įnter Jezebel. It is nearly always is created to portray a message, a message that is most times suspended in a fog of interpretation.
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