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?

Yes sleeping dragons, not that it's any of your business, but I am indeed a mother and for the first three years of my daughters life, My husband was in the forces and was away for three months at a time, with no communication at all permitted back to me. Three months on three months off. No family support.

What's your point? Exactly?

I don't have any pictures of naked women on my walls yet! Maybe if I was into plump hippies doing naked yoga I'd get some.

Thank you sleepingdragons for putting exactly my reply to bluntness100

If we want to put it this way - I am a white woman who the last time when I had a baby went to look for a clean pair of knickers to put on and had none because they were all in the washing which I just hadn’t had chance to do because, you know, newborn baby and actually trying to find some time to get some sleep.

Nothing to do with poverty, nothing to do with colour - simply to do with the fact I had no time.

And I never ran out of clothes to wear even when mine were little. It's not like we have to wash everything by hand is it? Not much effort to put a load in the washer. I can remember when we didn't have a washing machine , then we had a twin tub which was an improvement but still a bit of effort, now I can do a wash and dry in a tumble dryer. Still not liking the painting though!

Perhaps there should be a special section of Mumsnet for people who do laundry in the nude while wearing their baby in a sling on their back and reading?

I don't think it's racist but I'm not sure I think I'd like the print in my house..seems more suited to a quirky greetings card?

I love it! (Haven’t RTFT. I assume there’s been the odd bun fight!)
I have breastfeeding and baby wearing art in my home, as well as some abstract pieces based around musical instruments, nothing more meaningful to me than motherhood and music, both so beautiful!

Would a Jewish woman or a Muslim woman be depicted in such a way?

I dont think so. It is offensive and yes its racist.

How can you tell if any of the other women she depicts are Jewish or Muslim?

I like this picture. I just took it at face value though, a woman who is comfortable being naked. Didn't get all the connotations of her being too poor to have more than one set of clothes, etc etc.Love the one of her cleaning her teeth, the way she and the baby are looking at each other is so sweet. I suppose it's always worthwhile and easy enough to quickly check out an artists work to get the context and to rule out any nastiness.
Bertrand not really. I don't see this as sexualised or objectifying in any way, it's just a person without clothes.
Naked laundering FTW!

How can you tell if a woman is Jewish or Muslim just by looking?

Maybe this one is Jewish?

Because many Orthodox Jewish women/ Muslim women would not pose at all or would not pose nude.

sleepingdragons

Bluntness100 do you always take everything so literally?

I took that literally too, actually. So what exactly are you trying to say about the women in your family?

I think even Jewish and Muslim women are naked at home sometimes. Especially if they are Danish.

Tink2007

Could you not find any item of clothing at all?

of course Jewish and Muslim and Anglo Saxon et al are naked. Are they draped over a washing machine with a big arse, a baby belly and a kid on their backs.

Please somebody find me such an image.

Would a Jewish woman or a Muslim woman be depicted in such a way?

The one under discussion could be either, couldn't she?

But I don't think observant Jewish women or Muslim women would. Orthodox Jewish women don't even touch men who are not relatives. So I don't think they would let it all hang out like this.

There are other images without a washing machine petrolpump. It would be a bit odd if this artist only did washing machine pictures.

Seriously- are people not fed up with images of naked women?

That's like saying are people fed up of images of flowers? Birds? Buildings?

Drawings of nudity are not always drawn to titillate you know.

RoseWhiteTips

I didn’t say I couldn’t find any clothes at all in my post? I mentioned knickers. And even if all my clothes were in the wash, would that mean poverty? They could be 101 reasons as to why all my clothes were in the wash but it wouldn’t necessarily mean I were on the poverty line.

The whole point of art is that it’s subjective - each person sees something different to the next. I could be completely wrong. It may well not be about motherhood at all - the whole point might be the fact the woman is standing there naked and comfortably so. There are many different interpretations but it doesn’t mean any one of them is wrong.

My OH, who has a degree in the history of art, always says that female nudes in art were essentially titillation for rich men . Displayed in private rooms so the owner could have an expensive thrill.

I don't think it is racist. She seems like an "all natural, my baby has skin to skin frequently, and let me read your aura." yoga nudist who would burn jossticks type. It is too spiritual and it seems too Misty on Emmerdale and Peaches Geldoff-esque for me. Once that load is done, she'll probably make some tea then read the leaves and then meditate in the nude. The child will likely be breastfed until middle age!

My OH, who has a degree in the history of art, always says that female nudes in art were essentially titillation for rich men . Displayed in private rooms so the owner could have an expensive thrill.

I don't doubt that happened, but nude men and women have been painted/drawn/sculptured for centuries.