Something Not Quite Comfortable About This.

[anotheoldgit]

Completely bad taste no matter what the colour, after all we have all seen much worse in the name of Art etc, so why did this carry so much outrage?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/21/article-2543069-1AD6C50E00000578-877_634x857.jpg

/// FashionBombDaily.com editor Claire Sulmers was among the first to express her disbelief, claiming the photo's message was startlingly clear: 'White dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way.' ///

/// She wrote on her blog that racism remained rampant in the art and fashion worlds and this needed to stop.

/// 'The art and fashion industries are the few bastions of society where blatant racism and ignorance are given the greenlight in the name of creativity,' Sulmers complained. ///

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543069/Abramovichs-girlfriend-fire-picture-posing-chair-half-naked-black-woman-appears-Russian-fashion-blog-MLK-day.html

[LazyGun]

@AoG

"/// The dummy is laying on her back with her knees bent and a cushion, which Zhukova is sitting on, ///

I feel sure that the model would take exception at being called a 'DUMMY'"

Then the DM deserve to be castigated :) To be clear, not my words, but a cut and paste from the DM article.

And of course I assume that when they use the word dummy, they are referring to the mannequin on the floor, rather than the model sitting in the chair :)

[emmie]

LG, that was take on a Billy Connelly joke, which he told on Michael Parkinson show back in the day when you could say such things, or at least he could. Didn't they produce a similar outcry a while back having white girls draped around a black guys neck or some such nonsense,

[jno]

aog, I can remember the controversy at the time. I suppose time has dulled its edge but there were lots of complaints even back in the swinging 60s. But they were then artworks, not manufactured furniture.

[Brenden]

Are both models racist as I presume they had the choice to pose or not and got paid?

[boxtops]

So would everyone be less "outraged" if it was a black woman sitting on a white girl? IMO this is yet another case of people being incensed on other people's behalf in case it's not PC, the people concerned probably couldn't give a toss.

[emmie]

as long as they get paid, thats all they probably care about.

[jno]

how do you mean, "both models"?

[jno]

are people missing the point that the chair isn't a real person?

[emmie]

not sure the black girl is real, suggest that would be a step too far.

[boxtops]

If she were, it looks like the sort of thing the more lithe get up to in our yoga class :-)

[sandyRoe]

She couldn't be real. She'd soon get cramp in that position if she was.

[emmie]

think she is plastic, but then again so are many models

[jno]

do you get rich Russians to come and sit on you at yoga, boxtops? It would certainly help stretch some of those hard-to-access muscles.

[LazyGun]

The black "model" forming the base of the chair is quite clearly described in the article as a mannequin.

The item itself, the "chair" is just tasteless. The photo as it stands could be interpreted as being racist I suppose, but if it was a black model sitting on the chair then it would not be racist then - so it is that particular photo that the racism discussion should centre on, rather than the "chair".

As to whether there would be an outcry were the situation reversed - I think there might be; perhaps not as loud, but as I recall there was a fairly lively discussion over the black guy draping naked white women around his neck and calling the subsequent photos "art" ;)