Bought a print I love, DH is worried it's racist

[NC4T]

Saw it on IG and loved it. Purchased it for the laundry room corridor, but it's arrived and DH is a little worried it might be racist. I can't see how. To me, it's a mum finding a few minutes of calm in the chaos and I love her babies little sleeping face.

We are white Jewish, for cultural context.

What do you think?

I don't know why she's naked but it could just be a really mundane reason. Sometimes I want to wash what I'm wearing because it's dirty but I don't want to put clean clothes on till I've had a shower. I could just imagine this woman in that scenario thinking, 'I just want to read a few more pages', before having a shower and getting on with her jobs for the day.

More, Why would a carer be naked? And not just naked but comfortable enough to read her book? That is just so unlikely as if caught the consequences would be so severe.

It is a piece of art, open to interpretation both by the viewer and in its creation. It's probably not intended to be taken as a realistic depiction of a carer's life.

@bluntness100 As said for me, if this was a series of prints the op intended to display in a different setting to that which she's chosen, I would have no issue. The fact she wishes to display it in isolation en route to her laundry room as a nice image is where I part ways with her.

I agree. said nobody on MN ever

brizzle - isn't that a different artist to the funny naked yoga cartoon one?

It's from the link that the OP (?) posted.

Nikita Yes art is open to interpretation, but I am trying to examine and challenge many posters views of black people as almost universally deprived. They are ignoring more obvious explanations for ones that reflect their stereotypes.

Their negative stereotypes.

I admit it's been twenty years since I had my daughter, but breastfeeding in those days didn't involve taking your knickers off

There's a big emphasis on skin-to-skin these days. e.g. if you have supply issues then the standard advice in BFing advocate circles is to strip off and go to bed with your baby and just nurse as much as possible. The advice is only really about your top half but it's not a huge leap to be totally naked once you've lost half your clothes!

Then there's the act of BFing you have your boobs out a lot - if you're on your own at home you might walk about topless. Also biological BFing involves having your whole chest out, not just popping a nipple out of a discrete area of top.

Then there's the whole leaky boobs thing. No, no one is saying you should be starkers to BF, but you don't regularly get your boobs out with FF nor get encouraged to do skin-to-skin to get them to feed (AFAIK).

Sleeping dragons, I do understand what breastfeeding involves. Getting naked from the waist down and leaning over your washing machine isn't one of them. No matter how far you try to spin it as the norm.

"There's a big emphasis on skin-to-skin these days"

Skin to skin was a "thing" 20 years ago too, you know. Taking your knickers off wasn't though-that might be new......

@brizzle www.yogaprints.dk

Getting naked from the waist down and leaning over your washing machine isn't one of them. No matter how far you try to spin it as the norm.

Eh? That's not what I was saying at all!!

Both myself and another mother who BFs assumed the mother was BFing and just happened to end up naked and not be bothered enough about it to wake the baby to put clothes on.

I was wondering if the people who see this as a standard domestic scene were more likely to be BFers.

I wasn't saying it's normal for BFers to frolic around naked all the time, nor that the picture in the pose is something we've all done.

Skin to skin was a "thing" 20 years ago too, you know.

I'm not saying it wasn't

But it is more emphasised these days than it used to be (e.g. by MWs) AFAIK.

I think she's naked because she is a hippy, body positive, Scandinavian yoga mum.

I think she's naked because she is a hippy, body positive, Scandinavian yoga mum.

Prize to Molly

I'd bet good money this is what was in the artist's mind - given that:

1. she's all about yoga
2. her other pics are about body positivity
3. she's scandinavian

(I know you know that Molly, just pointing it out to those who've not been arsed to follow the link!)

I don't think the picture is racist or the artist's intent was racist, however as clearly some people will interpret it as racist to be on the safe side the op should probably buy a print of a naked white mother too to display with it.

I am still very dismayed that people see a picture of a black woman with a plain hairstyle and a child on her back and first of all see poverty and servanthood. You wouldn't think that if a white woman was portrayed in exactly the same pose.

I would think “poverty” if any woman was depicted leaning naked on a washing machine reading. The ethnicity just adds to the unease.

just pointing it out to those who've not been arsed to follow the link!)

It’s not going to be hung in the laundry room corridor with a clicky link, is it? It will stand alone.

The artists intent was already explained, to provoke discussion on many things, inc racial positioning in society.

However the op sees only an image she likes. For whatever reason. Her husband picked up on the provocation immediately. As did the majority on this thread. As such, if I was her I'd assume so will her guests. And she needs to decide if she's comfortable with what many will take away from the fact she has it displayed in isolation in her home and what they may think it says about her. And her husband.

Its certainly provoked a lot of reaction here, as the artist intended the image to provoke reaction.

@Bluntness that was a different artist

I would think “poverty” if any woman was depicted leaning naked on a washing machine reading

I'm not being obtuse on purpose but I genuinely can't understand why.

I'm not being obtuse on purpose but I genuinely can't understand why.

Because reading naked leaning on a washing machine is such an unnatural choice of you have other clothes or a house to yourself to go au naturel in. Reading on a bus can be quite hard enough. A vibrating washing machine would be hell. And wandering around naked can be quite pleasant, but crammed into the utility room with a baby leaning on a machine? It just feels unlikely to me, and I speak as baby wearing veteran and bookworm with nudist tendencies. It’s an incredibly specific set of circumstances to depict.

Please don't look at black people and see poverty, deprivation and lack of education first and foremost.

But images of African poverty are played to the west daily. The west isn't exposed to the sheer wealth that many Africans enjoy. The Geldof song with the line "and there won't be snow in Africa" is hugely insulting to a whole continent, when the song was inspired by the situation in Ethiopia.
So even someone as intelligent and well travelled as Sir Bob can be crass and naive.

You can't blame some westerners for having that initial view if they have no experience of visiting or living in Africa.

Please don't look at black people and see poverty, deprivation and lack of education first and foremost.

Nobody has so that’s an easy one to accede to.