Mick Hartley

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The Breast of Blasphemy

The latest little skirmish in the culture wars:

Burkhanipple 

From the London Paper:

A sexually explicit art work depicting a Burkha-clad woman sparked outrage today after it went on on display at a London gallery…

The artwork has already been condemned by the Union of Muslim Organisations of the UK and Ireland (UMO) as "blasphemous, cheap porn".

A spokesman said: "At a time when tensions are already heightened, gallery owners shouldn't be exhibiting artwork like this – it's offensive, inflammatory. and degrading to Muslim women."

Photographer Yeon Lee, defended her image, titled Seeing is Believing, claiming it "highlights the ways women are categorised in male-dominated societies".

But the UMO said the image could spark similar angry scenes to those in Denmark in September 2005 when a newspaper printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed portraying him as a terrorist.

He said: "People will protest. It's blasphemous – the artist just wants to make some money – and it's not helpful in this current climate."

Gallery owner James Freeman, who is exhibiting the image as part of a wider collection, called Five Years, from emerging international artists in North London", agreed the image had "shock value". But he denied it was blasphemous.

Some nice comments:

It's a breast; so what? And burkhas ARE themselves oppressive, in addition to symbolizing the endemic oppression of women in *fundamentalist* religious societies. The covering of this woman's eyes and exposure of her breast describes what many cultures, including *fundementalist* Islamic culture, wish to reduce women to–their capacity to bear children. It's a provocative and valuable statement. The image doesn't offend me. The reality of what it represents, however, DOES.

and

How do they know this is a muslim nipple. It might be a Christian or Jewish or Buddhist woman trying on a burka.

On the other hand:

What is the purpose of nonblievers offended those of us who have morals and standards and modesty? This socalled piece of art is meant only to offend Muslims and nothing more. It's these kinds of provocations against Islam that break the peace between us. Do you really think we are going to stand for it?

[Via mediawatchwatch]

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7 responses to “The Breast of Blasphemy”

  1. Dom Avatar
    Dom

    Off-topic, and really really irrelevent, but I want to be the first to mention it. The link is to MediaWatchWatch. Look what your wrote.

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  2. Mick Hartley Avatar
    Mick Hartley

    Well spotted. Thanks for that.

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  3. DaninVan Avatar
    DaninVan

    “Do you really think we are going to stand for it?
    Talk about your classic rhetorical question!
    Best keep your cars off the street at night.
    Where in the actual art piece does it suggest/state that it’s a muslima’s breast? When a bomb goes off in a market, are ‘they’ offended by the exposed shredded flesh of women? …or children?
    Again, with the rhetorical questions.

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  4. Noga Avatar
    Noga

    I think there is little doubt that the abaya is intended to direct our attention to Islamic culture as practiced, for instance, in Saudi Arabia.
    It’s an abaya, by the way, not a burka, which is an Afghani dress and looks different:
    burka: http://www.dr.dk/NR/rdonlyres/9600E129-24FC-48E3-AA4A-62312B1CDC86/149066/04ea996f51db4a149b55c46642964f9b_burka.jpg
    abaya: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2007-12-06-BF110607_Abaya9.jpg
    I think the artist simply used the Saudi model of woman repression (remember the one-eyed abaya suggested by an Islamic scholar?) to make a more universal comment on the perception of women; whether covered from head to toe, or blatantly exposed in nudity, women are still sexualized and reduced to their biological function, no more and no less. And this reduction creates problems, for women.
    It’s a whining exhibit. Women as passive victims of men’s gaze. I’ll bet the artist intended to insult the Western man in this display. It’s an attempt at what Martin Amis calls “the fetishization of balance”: you men think you are so modern and liberal, but in fact you are no better than the most repressive men on earth these days.

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  5. Mick Hartley Avatar
    Mick Hartley

    I’m not sure that I agree with your last paragraph there, Noga. Is it aimed at Western men? The artist herself says it “highlights the ways women are categorised in male-dominated societies”. I suppose it depends if she’s including the West in that category or not, but I read it as referring to the kind of society where the abaya, or burkha, is requisite for women.
    Well, you may be right, but either way it strikes me as a powerful and unsettling little image.

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  6. Noga Avatar
    Noga

    I agree that it is indeed unsettling. But my first reaction was to burst out laughing. And then I looked again, and my second reaction was to notice how vulnerable that lonely breast looks…

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  7. DaninVan Avatar
    DaninVan

    Vulnerable? Lonely?
    My first impression was of a small theatre company’s stage director sticking his head out to gauge audience size, prior to opening.

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