What was She thinking?: The Blonde Minister, The Black Nubian Cake & a room full of laughing Swedes

Imagine the insensitivity of this depiction of a racist caricature of the black woman and a room full of laughing swedes

I felt totally sick to my stomach when I saw these the images of white Swedes laughing and clicking away on their cameras while the Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth  cut a maimed black female cake (complete with a live head made up garishly with tribal neck jewelry, thick utomboish red lips and kinky black hair poking out from a hole in the table so that it seemed the cake is alive); at what many have now tagged the Moderna Museet ‘cake party’ which in actual fact was an exhibition meant to throw light on female circumcision .

the dismembered Cake

Granted, the act of traditional female circumcision is despicable and understandably, because of its seriousness, every conceivable vehicle of communication from artwork, articles, audiovisual programming etc have been used to convey the horrors the victims of circumcision face and the urgency of the need to abolish its practice. Much as some of the methods of communication have oft times been provocative, this recent piece of performance art by Makode Aj Linde certainly smacks of pure racism. In my opinion, the crowd of people laughing (reminiscent of blood thirsty observers at a racist lynching) at the dismemberment of the cake makes it all the more bizarre; since one would expect the mood to be more sober given the subject of the exhibition. I really do wonder how the message of this exhibit was conveyed other than showcase Swedes led by a government rep as racists.

A visit to the artist Facebook page will shows just how outraged people are following this macabre exhibit. No amount of defence from the Swedish Minister can assuage the outrage I feel. Personally, I don’t think the minister should be asked to resign, rather she should be summarily sacked.

All I can say is “”What was Madam Minister thinking?; agreeing to be part of this debacle”

OSA