UPDATE #2: A Black, Gay Russian artist has easily trumped the controversy with his own photo.
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UPDATE: The apologies have arrived. From Miroslava Duma, via her Instagram:
From Dasha Zhukova:
The chair pictured in the Buro 24/7 website interview is an artwork created by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard, one of a series that reinterprets art historical works from artist Allen Jones as a commentary on gender and racial politics. Its use in this photo shoot is regrettable as it took the artwork totally out of its intended context, particularly given that Buro 24/7′s release of the article coincided with the important celebration of the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I regret allowing an artwork with such charged meaning to be used in this context. I utterly abhor racism and would like to apologize to those offended by my participation in this shoot.
Garage Magazine has a strong track record of promoting diversity and racial and gender equality in the worlds of art and fashion, and will continue in our mission to stir positive debate on these and other issues.
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From Huffington Post:
How’s this for a happy MLK Day?
The online magazine Buro 247 has published a story about Dasha Zhukova, the Russian editor-in-chief of Garage magazine, which shows the editrix perched atop a chair designed to look like a half-naked black woman. Ugh.
Claire Sulmers, the editor of FashionBombDaily.com, alerted us to the unfortunate feature and calls the image an example of “white dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way.”
We couldn’t agree more. Although the chair also comes in “white woman,” we can’t help but be filled with anger and frustration over the onslaught of negative imagery, constant disregard and unabashed bigotry that continues to plague the fashion industry. From Bethann Hardison’s crusade to end racism on the runway to our attempt to educate society over and over and over again about the nonsense that is Blackface — the stories of racially insensitive absurdity are never ending.
Sulmers goes on to point out that the chair appears to be inspired by a collection designed by British pop artist Allen Jones in 1969. Yet this specific use of a black woman’s figure strikes a deeper cord. “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 writes.
Well it certainly seems that way, and this Buro 24/7 editorial is just another layer of icing on the cake.
