I promised a modern approach to my humble contributions to Black History Month, and here it is:

In April 2012 the above photo caused an uproar in Sweden. The event took place at Moderna Museet in Stockholm when invited artists made cakes to celebrate both World Art Day and the 75th anniversary of Konstnärernas Riksorganisation (KRO). It shows how then Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, feeds the artist Makode Linde a piece of his Painful Cake.

Linde designed his cake as an image of a black woman and the cream and other stuffing inside the cake was coloured red. It looks like a black version of the pre-historic Willendorf woman, but he also used a very stereotype image of black people from early 20th century popular culture. This is a theme in a large portion of his work that he calls "Afromantics" (see a few examples below).  Finally he also appeared inside the head of the woman, screaming every time someone cut a piece from the cake. The cake was to be understood as a critical commentary to female circumcision still practised in various parts of the world, including some African countries.

The art of Makode Linde have been called racist because of his use of "black face" and "golliwog" aesthetics, while he claims he wants to mirror contemporary racist discourses by using its most stereotype visual representation. Linde is himself black, and this in itself is of course no guarantee for non-racist activism, but I think the reactions his art is causing is an indication that what he is trying to do is working. If you are met with racism on a daily basis I do understand why you might get offended by Linde's work, but I rather understand his intentions as a critique directed towards a white society blind to the on-going discrimination. Still diminishing words and visual representations of people of colour are used in media, commercials and everyday language - but sometimes we are just too ignorant to notice.

Back to the photo of the performance of Painful Cake. It is horrible in so many ways! Look at the situation. All white people smiling, and taking photos, while the Minister of Culture feeds Linde cake. In this photo the stereotype black woman really becomes a sign of racism, as all its intentions is reduced to fun and games in the art world. But still this doesn't make Makode Linde a racist artist, rather its the perspective of the representation of the event that is questionable.

Since February is "Black History Month" in some parts of the world, why not take a quick look at one example of "black history" in Swedish art. 

Sweden had some colonies in the eighteenth century for shorter periods in an attempt to compete economically with greater nations, but this was not particularly successful and therefor largely forgotten about... But there are other traces of European colonialism in Swedish art history besides the love of everything Oriental and exotic as was fashionable at the time. Above you find a portrait of a man called Gustav Badin made by Gustav Lundberg in 1775. Badin, or Couchi as was his first/real name, was very young when he came to Sweden as a gift to the queen Lovisa Ulrika in the mid-eighteenth century. That means he was a slave, but with time his position in the royal court expanded. As an adult while he serving first under the queen and later princess Sofia Albertina, he was also acting in various theatrical events and privately he was devoted book collector. He was not the only black man of African origin in Sweden at the time, but due to his connections with the royal family he is the most famous.

Lundberg's portrait is a curious mix. He depicts Badin both as a nobleman, dressed in fine fabrics and decorated with an Order, and as some sort of wild man with feathers and exotic bling. There is a hint of the tricolour in Badin's costume, perhaps a reference to that he was both reading and writing in French. He is playing chess, but as he is portrayed smiling and looking like trouble, as his given French name Badin is suggesting, perhaps we should think he is playing with the chess pieces? Even if he gained some respect in higher society, he was also always the Other.

Next weeks post will be on a more contemporary aspect on the black history- theme...