in brief: there’s a chair in there, and racism as well
A Russian socialite and magazine has apologised for a photo shoot featuring a chair condemned as racist.
Magazine Buro 24/7 published images on its website of art magazine editor, Dasha Zukhova sitting on a chair sculpted as a crushed and bound woman of African appearance.
The chair’s artist, Bjarne Melgaard, crafted the work as homage to British pop artist Allen Jones, who produced a series of sculptures in the late 1960s depicting women as objects.
‘They are not so much about representing woman but the experience of woman [sic],’ Jones wrote on his perception of the fetishist works.
However, both Buro 24/7 and Zhukova have acknowledged the chair is out of context in the image.
‘I utterly abhor racism and would like to apologise to those offended by my participation in this shoot,’ Zhukova said.
Likewise, Buro 24/7 editor Miroslava Duma extended their ‘sincerest apology to anyone who [they] have offended and hurt’, denouncing gender inequality and racism.
‘It was ABSOLUTELY not our intention.’
The image has been removed from Buro 24/7’s website and Zhukova’s personal Instagram account.
(Editor’s note: When this story broke a few days ago, in America it was Martin Luther King Day… No one was impressed.)
