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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

999 replies

NC4T · 31/05/2018 21:12

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
petrolpump28 · 03/06/2018 08:06

Oops sorry white Jewish isn't a class. Although a laundry corridor might be.

WallisWindsor · 03/06/2018 08:20

@MarieJorgensen

Any chance of asking (the individual who commissioned the
illustration) to give us her opinion?
Who is profiting from all this free advertisement? Confused

petrolpump28 · 03/06/2018 08:37

I work with people seeking asylum and refuge. They have no money for bus fares to attend classes and a fiver a week to live off. Maybe some profits from this print could come our way? I have also contacted meghan and Harry.

WallisWindsor · 03/06/2018 08:46

petrolpump28

What's your point in bringing up Meghan and Harry in this conversation?

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2018 08:57

There are two different things though aren't there, the aritsts motivation in painting it, and the buyers motivation in buying it.

The artist painted it on commission. It's a real woman. I'm curious she is happy for a private commission to be sold widely and why it's within the yoga poses section of her website. And lastly why it and the tooth brushing ones are stand alone. Only two non yoga pictures of this baby wearing ever painted?

From the buyers perspective though it's different. And what people take from the picture, when displayed in isolation. En route to a laundry room.

And sleeping dragons, that's hugely over invested to email the artist. Are you connected to her? It's very bizzare behaviour. Your anger on this thread, your attacks on people, contacting the artist. Is there something else going on there?

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2018 09:06

Also now I come to think about it, sleeping dragons, weren't you the person who said it was a private commission? There is no way to tell that from the website. None at all.

Lucky guess, or do you know the artist, or are you the artist? It would explain your behaviour.

petrolpump28 · 03/06/2018 09:24

Meghan, coz she's rich and she's sending back some of her wedding gifts. Worth a try.

TheDowagerCuntess · 03/06/2018 09:29

mathanxiety the artist has bothered to come on here and answer our questions, she's not a troll FFS, please don't treat her like one.

Jesus love, step back.

sleepingdragons · 03/06/2018 09:42

And sleeping dragons, that's hugely over invested to email the artist. Are you connected to her?

No, not connected to the artist. I am connect to an artist though. My brother's an artist and I know he'd be fascinated to find a bunch of people online talking about his art, that was my motivation for sending it to her.

The artist may have found it herself anyway if she looks at her web analytics, I expect she's got a fair few visits from this thread.

WallisWindsor · 03/06/2018 09:42

petrolpump28

That's for the Buckingham Palace to decide not the two individuals. Have you tried asking Phillip Green, the Beckhams and so many other wealthy people?

BertrandRussell · 03/06/2018 09:45

I'm with mathanxiety here too. And if I was the artist, I think I would be glad of the heads up. We don't always realise the impact we can have on other people.

sleepingdragons · 03/06/2018 09:57

I am not treating her as a troll.

It was this line in particular: If the illustration was commissioned by an individual, how come it is now for sale commercially to anyone who wants to buy it?

It sounded to me like you were going down a route of doubting the artist's story and I thought it would be a real shame if this thread went that way.

I've been here over a decade and I get so fed up with small minded people picking apart OP's stories that "couldn't possibly be true" and coming up with what they think are "a-ha" gotchas that just aren't.

It's understandable there's a level of paranoia as we do get plenty of trolls and some people are great at spotting them.

But other times people just refuse to accept that anything outside of their life experience or imagination could possibly be true. And then a gang of them turn up and the OP gets torn to shreds.

It looked to me like that was about to happen here, it's a bugbear of mine and it pushed my buttons on that. And I thought it would especially be a shame if it did, as the artist was here by invitation, not because she found the site by herself, and I felt responsibility for that.

HOWEVER - I can see from your longer post just after mine, that you're not being small minded, so I apologise for thinking that. You're examining issues.

I disagree with your analysis, but that's another story and I haven't had breakfast (brunch?!) yet. (Rare lie in , what luxury!)

Also, in a stoke of instant karma, instantly I wrote my past last night, I saw you'd been nice about a post of mine on another thread so I felt guilty then!

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2018 10:22

You call her small minded and then apologise for it in the same post. If you were actually sorry you'd have deleted it before you posted.

Why are you still attacking and insulting people? What is your motivation here? It makes no sense.

sleepingdragons · 03/06/2018 10:27

Bluntness100 Jesus Christ, your continued attacks on me are tiresome.

Shall I spell it out to you in steps?

  1. My interpretation of mathanxiety's comment, when I made my earlier post, was that it sounded like she was being small minded.
  1. I mentioned this to provide context to my earlier comment.
  1. I now realise I was mistaken, and said that.

For clarity - I am not calling mathanxiety small minded. Is that clear enough for you?

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2018 10:45

I'm not attacking, clearly. I m simply questioning your motives.

Uyulala · 03/06/2018 11:34

So all art must buck stereotypes? Despite the fact that stereotypical people exist and shouldn't be expelled from featuring in art and literature?

Lacucuracha · 03/06/2018 11:40

sleeping

mathanxiety the artist has bothered to come on here and answer our questions, she's not a troll FFS, please don't treat her like one.

This is so ridiculous. Why is asking an artist why a commission by an individual is available commercially being interpreted as accusing them of being a troll?

Sleeping, you sound annoyed because you've told on posters to teacher but posters aren't fazed by teacher's presence.

MiggeldyHiggins · 03/06/2018 11:48

Wrt the fact that the woman is black and African in culture, the problem is the privileged white gaze. It's about how white society views black women - the baby on the back refers to the stereotype of National Geographic photos

this is absolute bollocks and incredibly racist of you. A good friend of mine is black and wears her baby on her back like the picture (as do I). She's not African, she's not an example of National GEographic, and she's completely Western. She would be rightfully terribly offended by your assumptions about her and people like her.

sleepingdragons · 03/06/2018 11:52

Lacucuracha please read my post of 09:57.

Regarding "telling to the teacher", give over!

I thought the art discussion was interesting, not something we do on MN very often, and the artist might like to see it. Artists don't always get to hear what the public say about their art, and this might be a great opportunity to be a fly on the wall.

It'd be a shame if this thread just becomes the usual AIBU sniping.

BertrandRussell · 03/06/2018 11:55

"She would be rightfully terribly offended by your assumptions about her and people like her."

She probably wouldn't be, you know. What with her growing up dealing with cultural and racial stereotypes.

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2018 11:55

But it is a stereotype. It's very, very wrong to suggest its racist to state it. We need to get away from if you state something factual you're a racist, sexist, or whatever . It's ludicrous. Just because others do it doesn't make it less of a stereotype

Just as women doing the household chores and baby raising is a stereotype. Women's work. The fact men do the same work as well does not change the fact it's stereotypical.

BertrandRussell · 03/06/2018 11:57

When did this "if you see racism it means that you're the racist" thing start?

Bluntness100 · 03/06/2018 12:00

When did this "if you see racism it means that you're the racist" thing start?

I think it's happening because it's easy. The issue is its self defeating. If people are accused of being racist, for saying they feel something is racist, all that happens is good people stop calling it out. For fear of being racist themselves. So it will go unchecked. And proliferate.

It's terrible to accuse someone of being a racist because they stated a stereotype.

MiggeldyHiggins · 03/06/2018 12:04

But it is a stereotype. It's very, very wrong to suggest its racist to state it. We need to get away from if you state something factual you're a racist, sexist, or whatever . It's ludicrous. Just because others do it doesn't make it less of a stereotype

But it isn't, thats the point

Just as women doing the household chores and baby raising is a stereotype

thats not a stereotype, that is reality! Women do do the household chores and raise babies. Thats like saying women having vaginas is a stereotype. It's not its just how it is,

MiggeldyHiggins · 03/06/2018 12:06

People are being called racist on this thread because they are racist.

The picture is of a black, Danish, naked, yoga hippy type babywearer. We know this because the artist says so! And people are still insisting shes a poor impoverished African maid....on what planet is that not racist?