Publisher: LBC, Guardian and National Media
Author: Various
Date: 21 January 2014
Article: LOOK: Is This Chair Racist? / Why there's nothing racist about the 'racist chair'
Quote:
“Roman Abramovich's girlfriend has sparked fury online after being photographed sitting on a chair shaped like a half-naked black woman.”
“The picture of Russian socialite Dasha Zhukova was taken by fashion site Buro 247 and released yesterday, on Martin Luther King Day, which celebrates the civil rights leader.
The image was questioned by blog Fashion Bomb Daily, who said: "The message: White dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way."
Following allegations of racism across social media, magazine Buro247 has re-cropped the image to remove the naked woman.”
Let’s clear one thing up first.
An inanimate object can’t be racist.
It can represent racist ideas, it can be used to promote racist ideology, but it can’t actually be racist so whenever a question like ‘is this [insert object] racist?’ is being asked instead of ‘do you find this chair design offensive?’ - the person or institution putting the question is deliberately seeking to provoke racist debate.
Hence just as the creator of racist literature or such so called ‘art’ can be racist, so is the racist provocateur.
Now dealing with the ‘chair’ in question, it should be obvious to most that the imagery of a semi-naked African woman on her back, with a European female sitting on her in comfort would invoke feelings of offence.
If the woman being depicted by the chair was that of the British monarch and it was Chris Rennard perched on her thighs there would be a public debate on the topic, and rightly so.
The real question therefore is not is the chair design offensive. We know that is a yes, but why is it viewed as offensive instead of simply being accepted as bad taste art.
Well if we ignore media attempts to conflate the publication of the image with the co-incidental celebration of Martin Luther King Day then we can see that this is primarily an issue about gender oppression and not ethnicity.
We know this because over 45 years ago a chair with a similar design was created by Allen Jones using a European woman representing the beast of burden.
This iteration of the chair was inspired by that historical piece of female denigration, no doubt the copy-cat artist is over the moon with the free media exposure.
However the motives of all those deliberately pretending there are no racist connotations in this offensive imagery are highly suspicious.
The Guardian art columnist Jonathan Jones for example rushes to the defence of the artist Bjarne Melgaard and says that “Dasha Zhukova – has been totally misunderstood”
He writes “So what was Melgaard's point? Surely, in making this woman black he means to retoxify the art of Allen Jones, to offend people with an image long since accepted. The intention is therefore the opposite of racist: it is to question power and representation. Are you offended by this black woman's abuse? Then why is it OK for white women to be similarly humiliated in a respected pop art icon in the Tate collection?”
But this is nonsense.
All that we have here is a wealthy European woman named Dasha Zhukova showing she has no problem sitting on a chair that depicts an African woman in a subservient hyper sexualised position. She even goes further than that and is happy to publish this image on an online ‘fashion’ site as a sign of her good taste.
Thus seeking to normalise the injury.
There is no feminist statement about challenging the degradation of women, no riposte against racism, just a fashion statement that shouts out though its crass insensitivity - look how racist I am.
Not the chair, me.
External Links
LOOK: Is This Chair Racist?Why there’s nothing racist about the ‘racist chair’Russian socialite sparks outrage with ‘racist chair’ photograph
Author: Various
Date: 21 January 2014
Article: LOOK: Is This Chair Racist? / Why there's nothing racist about the 'racist chair'
Quote:
“Roman Abramovich's girlfriend has sparked fury online after being photographed sitting on a chair shaped like a half-naked black woman.”
“The picture of Russian socialite Dasha Zhukova was taken by fashion site Buro 247 and released yesterday, on Martin Luther King Day, which celebrates the civil rights leader.
The image was questioned by blog Fashion Bomb Daily, who said: "The message: White dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way."
Following allegations of racism across social media, magazine Buro247 has re-cropped the image to remove the naked woman.”
Racist Dasha Zhukova sitting on Bjarne Melgaards copy of offensive chair design
Ligali Response
Let’s clear one thing up first. An inanimate object can’t be racist.
It can represent racist ideas, it can be used to promote racist ideology, but it can’t actually be racist so whenever a question like ‘is this [insert object] racist?’ is being asked instead of ‘do you find this chair design offensive?’ - the person or institution putting the question is deliberately seeking to provoke racist debate.
Hence just as the creator of racist literature or such so called ‘art’ can be racist, so is the racist provocateur.
Now dealing with the ‘chair’ in question, it should be obvious to most that the imagery of a semi-naked African woman on her back, with a European female sitting on her in comfort would invoke feelings of offence.
If the woman being depicted by the chair was that of the British monarch and it was Chris Rennard perched on her thighs there would be a public debate on the topic, and rightly so.
The real question therefore is not is the chair design offensive. We know that is a yes, but why is it viewed as offensive instead of simply being accepted as bad taste art.
Well if we ignore media attempts to conflate the publication of the image with the co-incidental celebration of Martin Luther King Day then we can see that this is primarily an issue about gender oppression and not ethnicity.
We know this because over 45 years ago a chair with a similar design was created by Allen Jones using a European woman representing the beast of burden.
This iteration of the chair was inspired by that historical piece of female denigration, no doubt the copy-cat artist is over the moon with the free media exposure.
However the motives of all those deliberately pretending there are no racist connotations in this offensive imagery are highly suspicious.
The Guardian art columnist Jonathan Jones for example rushes to the defence of the artist Bjarne Melgaard and says that “Dasha Zhukova – has been totally misunderstood”
He writes “So what was Melgaard's point? Surely, in making this woman black he means to retoxify the art of Allen Jones, to offend people with an image long since accepted. The intention is therefore the opposite of racist: it is to question power and representation. Are you offended by this black woman's abuse? Then why is it OK for white women to be similarly humiliated in a respected pop art icon in the Tate collection?”
But this is nonsense.
All that we have here is a wealthy European woman named Dasha Zhukova showing she has no problem sitting on a chair that depicts an African woman in a subservient hyper sexualised position. She even goes further than that and is happy to publish this image on an online ‘fashion’ site as a sign of her good taste.
Thus seeking to normalise the injury.
There is no feminist statement about challenging the degradation of women, no riposte against racism, just a fashion statement that shouts out though its crass insensitivity - look how racist I am.
Not the chair, me.
Allen Jones original sexist chair design -1969
External Links
LOOK: Is This Chair Racist?Why there’s nothing racist about the ‘racist chair’Russian socialite sparks outrage with ‘racist chair’ photograph
Ligali is not responsible for the content of third party sites
Speak Out!
Does the image of Dasha Zhukova sitting on a offensive chair design promote racist and sexist ideals? How different is this ‘art’ from misogynist hip-pop that denigrates women?Click here to speak out or read (1) comments about this article
If we ignore media attempts to conflate the publication of the offensive image with the co-incidental celebration of Martin Luther King Day then we can see that this is primarily an issue about gender oppression and supremacist attitudes
Toyin Agbetu, Ligali Organisation
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