Makode Aj Linde

I just stumbled upon this on the internet. 

For World Art Day in Sweden, April 15, artist Makode Aj Linde created a cake shaped like a stereotypical African woman’s body and then painted his face to go along with it as a piece of performance art intended to bring attention to the horrors of female genital mutilation. Whenever someone cut into the cake, he would scream in agony, but as you’ll see from the video, no one is traumatized by the simulation, they are laughing, snapping photos, recording videos, and having a jolly good time eating their cake.

The event has caused a big stir throughout the country due to photos of the Minister of Culture of all things, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, seen happily cutting up the cake and feeding a piece to the screaming head. Of course, the Minister is now claiming her actions were misunderstood, but the African population in Sweden isn’t hearing it.

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what the fuss is about? Why is there so much sensitivity surrounding this piece? Makode Aj Linde creates works exploring the attitudes and stereotyping towards black people and post colonialism. Surely this is a controversial method to show this, but it’s just art, not protest. If I am to be honest, part of me wishes that I had thought of this first.

I would love to see what other people think - beyond the “TOTAL IGNORANT,RACIST BULLSHIT….SMH! When are people ever gonna learn to respect ALL cultures?” comments that I have found on Youtube.

What do you think?