No doubt a lot of you have seen this image already. This was a cake displayed on World Art Day in Stockholm,Sweden. It was a concept by Makode Linde, a Swedish artist. If you take a look at the guy’s website here, you will find he does a lot of similar themed art, apparently its called blackface art. He also has a lot of weird-looking stuff that I don’t get, e.g.
Anyway, I came here to talk about the cake.
According to the Daily Mail ” The black cake, part of an exhibition on World Art Day, was intended as part of the artist’s project illustrating degrading stereotypes of black people through history.” The red innards, were meant to highlight the issue of FGM…they had a cake-cutting to highlight this issue:
Let’s ignore the fact that you and I have never seen a woman that looks like this. Let’s ignore the fact that blackface art enforced racial stereotypes towards Africans – i.e. the really white teeth, pitch dark skin and the red lips.
On the other hand, let’s ignore that you and I are often too sensitive when it comes to racial issues, jumping hurriedly to conclusions that justify racial stereotypes and applying double standards – itself racist – a black guy shouting at a watchie is an angry man, and a white guy shouting at a watchie is a racist…don’t deny that natural conclusion we often make. And we all know that Makode would have been in as much trouble as the Swedish minister who cut the vagina first (yes, that was what she was doing) if he was a white artist.
After we ignore all this, at least I am sure we all agree that FGM is not a funny issue. I can imagine that there is nothing funny about having your clitoris cut out of you. It’s not funny that your vagina will be roughly sewn together after that…and who wants to talk about how…unpleasant… your first sexual experience is going to be. Makode ‘screaming’ comically (he played the head) did not capture that…
I’m no artist, but next time someone wants to bake a cake, and have people eat it…itself an awkward somewhat nauseating idea, make it realistic…next time, model the cake after a real girl…get rid of that silly afro, and give her a lighter more realistic shade. Shrink her, because her stomach will not be that big, and she won’t have breasts yet. Then tell the excited people taking photographs to each hold a limb, and then the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs can struggle to find the clitoris, hold it tight so it doesn’t slip away and then just cut it out with your tiny blade.
If the cake was modelled after this, I think it wouldn’t be so funny, it would be closer to the truth and the truth is what this cake was meant to bring out, was it not? Or is this what they pass off as ‘misunderstanding’ art…
Just Jere 