An Open Letter from African women to the Minister of Culture: The Venus Hottentot Cake
April 20, 2012 in Uncategorized
April 21, 2012
We the undersigned women of African /African descent and our supporters, which include anti-racist activists, scholars community leaders and Faith leaders wish to address the Swedish Venus Hottentot Cake Incident. First, we commend our Swedish friends and colleagues, and those from the African-Swedish Diaspora for their substantial contribution to anti-racist mobilization and education through their various Policy Institutes and Research Programs, which have worked diligently to promote the interests of African Diaspora communities in Europe and Internationally.
The Issue At Hand
“Contemporary forms of oppression do not routinely force people to submit. Instead, they manufacture consent for domination so that we lose our ability to question and thus collude in our own subordination.”
-Patricia Hill-Collins, Black Feminist Scholar.
On Sunday, April 15th, at the Moderna Museet the Swedish Artists Organisation celebrated World Art Day, as well as celebrating its own 75th birthday. Lena Adelsohn-Liljeroth, the culture Minister, was Invited to speak and a number of artists were invited to create birthday cakes for the celebration. The Minister was informed that the cake would be about the limits of provocative art, and about female genital mutilation. The event was launched with Lena Adelsohn-Liljeroth cutting the first piece of cake from a dark, ruby red velvet filling with black icing, which we understand was created by the Afro-Swedish artist Makode Aj Linde, whose head forms that of the black woman, and is seen with a blackened face screaming with pain each time a guest cuts a slice from the cake. Rather disturbingly for many African women, the minister is pictured laughing as she cuts off the genital area (clitoris) from the metaphorical cake, as the artist Makode screams distastefully. The gaze of the predominantly white Swedish crowd is on Lijeroth who is positioned at the crotch end, as they look on at their visibly ebullient culture minister with seemingly nervous laughter as she becomes a part of the performance – a re-enactment of FGM on a cake made in the image of a disembodied African woman.
The pictures of the event that followed in the media and video footage can only be described in the mildest of terms, as a very negative racialised spectacle, that has infuriated many people. As representatives of African women on the ground, we have the experiential privilege to convey to the Swedish Embassy’s Ministry of Culture the fury that we have seen, particularly from African women who are dismayed at the fact that this project which was supposed to bring awareness of the very painful and complex issue of genital cutting has ironically, had the complete opposite effect.The fact that the artist is black does not in any way diminish the gravity of this racially demeaning project. The black artist who created this may be accused of being a dim witted misogynist on the one hand or on the other, some sort of gnostic proponent of postmodern praxis, in relation to black identity and difference – that we just don’t get – but we do not believe, based on what we have seen and heard from the artists own explanations, that this so-called ‘provocative performance art’ stands up to the intellectual rigor required of literary and cultural critique.The work is definitely not empowering or transformative for women who are victims of FGM in any shape or form, and the racial overtones of this project re-inscribe the exploitation and dehumanisation of black African women, which clearly cannot be denied. The fact of Makode Linde’s blackness does not legitimize anything done here, and the message about the seriousness of FGM is completely subsumed by the hideous medium through which it has been conveyed. One does not need to be subjected to the epistemic violence underpinning the grotesque reconstruction of FGM, in the form of a black woman having her clitoris cut off to the sound of a laughing crowd with a fixed gaze, drinks in hand, to raise awareness of this very serious issue. Perhaps some reflection is required on what this might be saying about the people who were participating, and who saw nothing wrong in what will surely go down as a deeply disturbing episode and blight in Sweden’s history.
As the representatives of African women it is with grave concern that we express our extreme and utter dismay that the minister for culture, Lena Adelsohn-Liljeroth – someone who holds a position of great authority and power – would take part in what basically amounted to a humiliating and dehumanising racialised public spectacle of African women. We believe the naive re-enactment of this oppression and symbolic violence in the name of “raising awareness” shows a profound disconnection between the minister for culture and the women who have to deal with FGM. Unfortunately, this serves to reinforce the huge chasm that exists between the cultural sensibilities of African women and western women [albeit not always exclusively between these two categories, when the dynamics of difference is taken into further consideration]. We do not in any shape or form subscribe to this sham, that is so widely described to as “women’s empowerment.” In this sense we the undersigned believe that this project is no different from the” Hottentot Venus” Sara Baartman and other African women who were exhibited as freak show attractions in Europe in the 19th Century.Sara Baartman was tricked into going to Europe, where she and other African women were paraded naked in museums and public squares and gawked at by all and sundry, for their “huge buttocks and peculiar genitalia”. The objectification of African women’s bodies by the west is rife in the pornography industry and there at least one can argue that the women who participate do so willingly. However, when this happens in the context of a serious issue such as FGM and it is done in the name of “art”, we believe that there is a need for a strong unequivocal response to challenge such derogatory and racist representations promulgated by so-called “provocative art”.
As such We/African Women/African-Americans and many women of the African Diaspora the world over view this as an assault on our foremothers, sisters and our selves who have worked tirelesslly in different historical and cultural contexts to rid society of the sexist/racist vernacular and stereotypes of black women as sluts, jezebel, hottentot, mammy, mule, sapphire; to build our own sense of selves and redefine what women who look like us represent.
In this sense we completely reject the grotesque caricature of the black African woman constructed by the artist Mokode Linde to re-enact FGM, which displayed no discernible cultural sensitivity towards those African girls/women and girls/women generally who are subjected to that experience. We in no way except this as a valid representation of the experiences of African women, but rather, we view it as a racialised slur and an attempt at erasure of all that we have struggled for historically in order to genuinely empower African women the world over. We can learn from successful movements like the Civil Rights movement, from Women’s Suffrage, the Black Nationalist and Black Feminist movements that we can make change without resorting to the sort of connivance outlined here between white female power and the black male power that legitimized this gross act of cultural insensitivity and public humiliation towards African women in the form of what is now infamously known as the Venus Hottentot Cake.
The Artist and Ethics
Internalized racism has been one of the primary means by which we are constantly forced to perpetuate and collude in our own oppression and the oppression of others of our race. In the case of the “Venus Hottentot Cake”, equally devastating is that the artist Makode Aj Linde is Afro-Swedish. His own head adorned with long locks forms that of the naked Black woman in the cake, lying motionless on a table in a room surrounded by a laughing crowd. Not one Black woman, not one Black person in the room, except the artist and his cake. Makode Aj Linde is seen with a blackened face screaming with pain each time a Swedish guest cuts a slice from the cake. We are horrified as we try to make sense of this artist’s actions and we are perplexed by his explanation of the art as an awareness raising piece on the “practice of female genital mutilation” in certain African communities, or a practice that many African women’s rights defenders have come to rename female genital cutting (FGC).
The moment that cake was presented; the moment that cake was eaten; the moment that cake caused joy and excitement, re-opening the marvel that white Europeans felt at exploiting African women’s bodies—specifically, the sexualized celebration, the entrapment, the cutting of the genitalia of the Sara Baartman-like black body, the ethics of the artist comes into serious question, even if not the art itself, for the sake of “art”, for the sake of non-censorship. Racism was propped up in its ugliest form, facilitated by a Black artist and perpetuated on the representation of the body of a Black female.
No one, including the artist seems to have consulted Black African women at the forefront of the movement to end the practice of female genital cutting, often with little resources and in direct and dangerous conflict with their own communities. We echo Shailja Patel in stating: “What makes the cake episode so deeply offensive is the appropriation, by both artist and his audience, of African women’s bodies and experiences, while completely excluding real African women from the discourse. It is a pornography of violence.”
We disagree with the artist, that the various statements, comments, letters, and responses flooding the blogosphere represent “a shallow analysis of the work”, of his art. As he expresses that it is “sad if people feel offended”, we too are saddened by his lack of analysis and his acquiesce to racist and misogynist systems that not only serve to undermine the humanity of Black women, but also of Black men.
Ethics are defined as “a system of moral principles” which constantly factor into the choices we make, whether as artists or responsible governmental and/or institutional representatives. However, these decisions can become confused, making this system of principles seriously muddled and producing a blurry set of ethical guidelines, especially when competing priorities are at work—money and recognition vs. dignity and humanity. It is our personal opinion that this cake represents both ethical and moral violations not only in its presentation within the context of art, but within the department of cultural affairs sponsorship of it, regardless of country.
To the artist, by colluding in this or any level of oppression, and by providing the tool for the racialized, sexualized enjoyment of the visual body of a Black woman, by participating in the enticement of others to cut out and eat her cake vagina, which in the case of Sarah Baartman was first felt up, groped at, raped, looked at as a sexual enigma—is indeed an outrage.
Controversies and arguments abound as ethical decisions, or the lack thereof, play a role in institutional practice, in governmental practice—then you add the artist, as in this case, and you have a dangerous situation and a perpetuation on a global scale, another assault on Black women’s bodies. With the advent of technology today, our world is global. Technology allows us to see beyond our backyards. The world is watching as we still see layers of the objectification of black and indigenous peoples throughout the world, where institutions of cultural education reach their market by presenting dangerous ideologies of culture that objectify and exploit and dehumanize ethnic groups, such as Dr Kananazawa for his “Black Women Are Less Attractive” research. We are also fortunate, in the sense that we can use this same technology to respond and resist.
The fact that anthropologists, scientist, and other social scientist, educators and now this artist and the Swedish institution is being challenged around the world in outrage signals that, even through art, people want to be educated without harm, without violation, and without limitation.
What We Ask
We would welcome a meeting with the minister of culture, Lena Adelsohn-Liljeroth to discuss the implications of the event in its global reach for African women and the moral outrage it has caused. We would welcome the opportunity to engage in critical conversation with the artist Mokode Linde about the strategies he intends to employ for remaining accountable to black African communities in Sweden and further afield, he has indicated he will continue to represent in his art. We would welcome a conversation about the work ahead in relation to reconciliation for those who have been affected and/or offended by the insensitive nature of the Venus Hottentot Cake event, particularly those who have experience of FGM. Finally, we the undersigned would welcome a sincere public apology that would demonstrate the issues we have outlined in this letter have undergone serious consideration by the minister of culture, followed up by a robust review and impllementation of anti-racist policies that impact the lives of African Swedes and those from African Diaspora communities in Europe and Internationally.It behooves each artist, or researcher, or activist, or educator, to be aware of their position and their privilege and power when communicating or producing what can then interpreted as some form of “reality” by those the product reaches. Conversely, it is the ethical job of the institution, in this case the department of cultural affairs in Sweden to use their monies to fund programming that educates without racism and exploitation. In addition, we believe it is also imperative that they work to redact and develop programs of reeducation to counter information promulgated throughout years and centuries, via exhibitions, world fairs, zoos, parks, and more, that have framed Black women continuously, as “lesser,” “inhumane,” “sexual creatures.”When the department of cultural affairs ate and laughed at the caricature body of Sara Baartman, the head of the department showed herself incompetent and incapable of morally and ethically making choices and incapable of running the department of cultural affairs in Sweden.
SIGNED
Dr Claudette Carr Director, Jethro Institute for Good Governance, BlackWomens Blueprint Barbara Mhangami, Samantha Asumadu
Please email sama2179@hotmail.com or tweet @honestlyAbroad or @Jigginstitute if you want to add your name to this letter.
Thank you
thabomophiring said on April 22, 2012
Reblogged this on Thabomophiring's Blog.
Sumiko Saulson said on April 22, 2012
I just looked at the video and I’m having a very hard time understanding how this male artist could have thought that this was in any way appropriate, same goes for the Swedish Minister of Culture. The fact that no African Women were consulted before carrying out this travesty and that in retrospect Swedish officials are pointing to the artist’s Afro-Swedish heritage to me speaks of the worse kind of tokenism: the kind where a white person in the middle of a racist act points to his one and only black friend and says “well he told me it was okay.” No. No it is not okay.
Wagnerian said on April 22, 2012
The response to Makode Linde’s cake piece has been so reactionary, overheated and ignorant. Art that references historically racist imagery is not in and of itself racist. The minister and the people in that room are to be commended for taking part in the piece without themselves throwing reactionary shit-fits. Makode’s piece is thoughtful, powerful, horrific and wickedly funny. Most people are not resounding to the art itself, but rather 3rd party documentation of the work that doesn’t seek to provide clarity or context. Irregardless, art isn’t necessarily supposed to make people feel good… I think what Makode’s piece has actually done is expose the limits of anti-racist discourse as it stands. I hope the Minister and Makode never give in to those that ask that they would apologize. I hope that art remains free to portray all that is good and awful about our existence.
Malin said on April 22, 2012
This is exactly it. Thank you.
bionicdiscovery said on April 22, 2012
Perhaps the artist should have spent more time examining the limits of performance art and less on FGM, because it seems his primary aim was to test the limits – which, of course, trivializes the brutality of FGM. I’m not sure that his consultation of African/Black women would’ve made that much of a difference, but maybe it would have made people who are reacting so violently to this situation feel better.
I do think that we should take a moment to step beyond what the work doesn’t do and examine what it does. Regardless of the intent of the artist, which we can never fully or truly know, his art *did* bring attention to not only the limits of performance art, but the ways in which White/European and 2nd wave feminism (as I understand it) and Black/multicultural feminism differ (given the behavior of the women in the room toward the only black “woman” in the room); the concept of the herd mentality as more and more people step up to take pictures and have cake, totally ignoring the pain/screams of their victim (I see the holocaust here); the subjugation/dehumanization of women who are put on display by a privileged majority…I could go on.
I’m not saying that I agree with his method, and while I don’t think that his consultation of black women/FGM victims/people who are knowledgeable of such events would have made a difference, I do think that we have examine the redeeming qualities of the work, regardless of how we feel about the artist. and I say that consulting those people wouldn’t have made a difference because the artist seems to show no remorse for the pain he was awakened in so many women. He seems to show no remorse for how his work has been seen to trivialize FGM and various other brutal issues. Though he has said that “[he's] sad if people feel offended” he, as far as I know, has yet to apologize for causing the offense. His ignorance his profound, but his work of “art,” however you use that term, does have some merit – even if it’s just a little.
Mark said on April 23, 2012
Where’s the video???
Alexandria said on April 23, 2012
This wasn’t racist. It was culturally insensitive, but not racist. If this cake warrants an apology to “black women” then I feel sorry for us. My view is that there should be an educational work done to change the internal mental emotional enviornment of the black woman, here in America and abroad. This piece of art, despite the disgust felt by most, served its purpose. Now the teenagers in my neighborhood understand that genital mutilation is not only a factor in this country with newborn boys, but that it happens around the world to women as well. This piece raised more awarness than many can see. And that, simply put, is the purpose of art.
Duston Barto said on April 23, 2012
One does not need to be female or of African heritage to understand how disgusting this whole affair is/was. One merely needs to be a compassionate human.
asha s. best said on April 23, 2012
Reblogged this on 243 Conklin Women & Gender.
reann said on April 23, 2012
You’re making very valid points about this performance and all the parties involved. However, as a woman of african descent I don’t remember appointing you to represent me or to speak on my behalf Please voice, your opinions, as valid as they may be, as your own. Thank you!
Merlita said on April 23, 2012
What the artist should then do is not care about anything and African women will continue to undergo this ritual. He brought attention to something that people forgot about. Remember, dear feminists, you need all the help you can get in the fight for equality in the world. If you don’t like men to express their concern, continue writing articles like this which will only serve to force those in the position to maek a difference to NOT make that difference.
I am a female and it does not bother me. I think he is a genius for taking this upon himself. This letter is a lot of blah, to be quite frank. You are over-thinking this and over-reacting. Keep being feminists all by yourself. I want to be involved with the men also, not a bunch of pissed-off lesbian types or western diasporic women who refer to enslavement for every little thing.
Anonymous said on April 23, 2012
My knee-jerk reaction to this was to be offended. But after sitting with it for a while and learning more about the artist, I think I can appreciate what the artist may be trying to convey. I don’t think it was an attempt at humor. I think some of the pictures are taken out of context and give the wrong impression. I think it was meant to make people uncomfortable and to force them to think (a herculean task in and of itself). I actually think it has been successful in drawing attention to female genital mutilation – it definitely has people talking about it; and I’m sure there are some people who hadn’t paid attention to the practice who are now aware of it because of this piece. I also think the artist is drawing parallels between the physical mutilation of the black female body currently and the literal and figurative mutilation of the black female body historically. I think the piece is criticism of said mutilation by non-black and black people alike. I think those criticizing the artist may be a bit short-sighted and perhaps playing into political correctness for the purpose of appearing anti-racist, instead of really thinking critically about the piece.
I also think it’s ridiculous that people are calling for the Minister of Culture to resign. Seriously?? Avoidance much?
weareincurablycurious said on April 23, 2012
Please let us not forget the role of Moderna Museet in commissioning and validating this performance. Institutions typically take pride in serving as a platform for the best of the best, the most critical/challenging, etc., etc., etc. To ensure these supposed standards, no programming takes place without mediation and approval by curators, members of a Programming Committee, the Director, and sometimes even the Board of Trustees.
If Moderna Museet functions like any other major global arts institution (and I am sure it does), I imagine there would have been innumerable opportunities before this event happened for rigorous thinkers to realize the work could not stand up to even the most preliminary 21st century criteria. I therefore believe dialogue with the institutional representatives responsible for programming this work at Moderna Museet must also take place, and in public. Essential learning must happen before this, or any other like-mandated organization, can be genuinely worthy of the title and status granted as facilitators of cultural knowledge and experience in the public trust.
– Milena Placentile
Andrew Wesley said on April 23, 2012
This is kind of slanderous. In defense of the artist, in no way shape or form does he reference Venus Hottentot. This is another case of the message being too advanced for the audience.
Ana Helena said on April 25, 2012
I completely agree. That figure represents the Venus of Willendorf, not a black woman, but everywoman.
I am a feminist and a woman of color and while I found this art piece to be quite grotesque, I believe FGM is much more grotesque and must be stopped! The reaction to this art piece should be, “How disgusting! Let’s stop FGM!” Instead it is, “Those white people are laughing and they are laughing at us! Let’s talk about that and not that this highlights one of the most crude and horrifying things systematically happening to African women right now.”
MamaOg said on April 23, 2012
Dear Dr Carr,
May I please point out to you that what you call “the Venus Hottentott Cake” presented at World Art Day in Sweden recently was not a caricature of Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman, also known as “Black Venus”, nor was it a caricature of any other African woman. If you look closely at the cake in any of the videos from the event you will notice that it is a copy of “Venus of Willendorf”, also known as the “Woman of Willendorf”, a limestone statuette found in Austria in 1912. She is believed to have been made 24000-22000 BC, and is as far as we know of European origin through and through. Which is to say: she was white (see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf). If you want to meet with the Swedish minister of culture it might become a bit embarrassing if you are not acquainted with this – in a European context – famous and highly treasured archaeological artefact.
Best regards,
from one feminist to another
Anna said on April 24, 2012
When watching the video documentation of the piece I squirmed and could hardly look at it as it made me so excruciatingly uncomfortable. I found it startling that anyone in the role of an audience, with any remains of empathy and critical thinking skill, could possibly even think to cut that so-called cake.
Which exposes the ignorance of the Swedish minister for culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth and the other suits (or whomever they were) in the room. Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth has in the past declared that she wants The Ministry of Culture, the department she´s head of, to change its name to (cool your jets here) The Department of Entertainment. Arguing she finds the word culture has a dull and tedious tone to it. I find her response to the cake symptomatic to this logic as she obviously choses to be entertained by it rather than apply any deeper thought processes or other emotional response.
However problematic the reenactment of despicable acts as a method to bring focus to certain questions through art is. And the question is always weather the reenactment reinforces the underlying (or obvious too for that matter) structures that the artists using this method seek to problematize, attack, scrutinize or merely bring into the light. Or if they by using this method somewhat “enlighten” their audience. The question is constantly up for debate.
I however do think that Makode Aj Linde through this piece actually, through the reactions of his audience, rather managed to get his message across and raise awareness about that ignorance and racism are alive and well (for whomever were in doubt they were) and need to be addressed.
Max said on April 24, 2012
As a proudly Nigerian woman, I was initially outraged when I saw the video. However, when I learned the background of the art and the artist, I mentally applauded him for both genius and bravery.
The Minister and all in attendance were aware of the concept of the cake and the theme behind it. The artist makes no pretenses about what the cake was about. Female genital mutilation is an ugly thing. Reality is ugly. The artist has succeeded, in a remarkable way, in portraying this ugliness and bringing it to the fore of our minds.
“An artist’s duty isn’t to make you feel comfortable or safe. Her duty is to use discomfort to provoke you into a new headspace. An artist takes us beyond the zone of our comfort, sometimes beyond what’s appropriate, and in so doing rescues us from a fatal civility.” Teju Cole
To me, the author of this lengthy letter, and all who support it are wasting their time. All these words have not had the impact of the single cake.
Max said on April 24, 2012
Art is not meant to be politically correct.
philo ikonya said on April 24, 2012
Reblogging and sharing. I am pleased you have done this as when I was in Skellefteå Northern Sweden some people did not understand or even have the history of Sara Baartman whose image kept on hitting me when I saw this. I opened the page and passed it around.. but some were still asking what about the art.. and one comment was that ” it was not understood… the minister had not understood.. ” It seemed to me obvious that everything was wrong with the art as well.. people eat cake normally in joyous moments.. and actually in Afrika.. in most places.. rare and for weddings.. whichever way I looked at it it made and cannot make sense especially that the minister was laughing.. . It is just the most horrendous thing I ever saw. Thanks Shailja for keeping at this. And yes, Nothing will short of an apology will do… as widely circulated as was the abuse. And… it continues to make me angry and has invaded my personal space… is this what everyone sees here when they look at me? Can I have any intimacy? Have we been decampaigning FGM with work partners and support from donors who never understood its atrocity..? And much more. I was not strong enough in the meeting as it was focused elsewhere but i sent a message that we black women in the Nordic countries.. . would like a chat with the minister and am still following that up. I am meeting a PAN African Women Group soon and I hope that they do not think it is too late to act.. it never is. And there are so many who still do not get it.. .
Lawrence Philp said on April 24, 2012
I agree. It is a sustantial mess and the artist should know better and doesn’t. Than ks to all of the Sisters who are standing up and taking names.
Barbara said on April 25, 2012
I’ll sign the letter to the Minister of Culture for myself and my 12 African American sisters.
Richard Mabala, Arusha, Tanzania said on April 25, 2012
I was initially disgusted when I saw the video and I remain disgusted even after reading all the comments above. I recognise the right of the artist to shock as insensitively as he likes, but we also have the right to be shocked and angered by it. There are plenty of examples of knee jerk, simplistic campaign messages supposedly validated as art which do far more harm than good.
Dordi Westerlund said on April 25, 2012
This is also a story about the contempt for women. Yes, it is a black woman, and yes, there is a history. But my thoughts go in another direction too: This is also part of Western (entertainment) culture. Films and television, thrillers and detective stories about the death of women, often sexually abused, sometimes mutilated in a sexualized way, with cannibalistic overtones. And then, the “exciting” hunt for the perpetrator, the serial killer, now a fight between men; the women, young and good-looking, performing the visual background material: A sequence of body parts. This is a longstanding theme, Edgar Allen Poe said about good writing: “The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world”.
I have been waiting for the Friday’s and Saturday’s “entertainment” being, or the (male) artist showing, the story of the death of the sexually abused and mutilated man. That, I think, would be profoundly provocative. That, I think, would be a true identification: “It could have been me”. Using one’s own body and experience, to illustrate genital mutilation: The male body as a piece of cake, to cut, eat, and enjoy.
I have not yet seen these provocations. As a (white) (Swedish) woman I was offended, and annoyed, by this reiteration, therefore I join this debate on Your forum after reading this important text.
P.S.
I also find it deeply disturbing that this art work is not about a Swedish practice, There have been discussions in Sweden about FGM, and it is addressed as something done by Others, (mainly) in Other countries. No one will be provoked, on the contrary, we will be comforted as (good) people not taking part in these horrendous traditions. What is the artist doing: Raising awareness of the need to take action and help these Other women? Or raising awareness of “the white man’s burden”?
daniel said on April 25, 2012
i think that the piece just doesn’t work in the context it was done and in the way the artist intended: in the west, female genital cutting is often used to prove the barbarity and backwardness of africans; thus no need to raise it further in the sweden in such a way.
however, what the artist did expose was racism and lack of knowledge and awareness for the colonial past in sweden. had this been his aim, it would have been achieved – albeit, as so often, at the expense of black women. since it was not, it’s a bad piece of art as well as a re-staging of colonial and racist violence against black women
William Copeland said on May 2, 2012
Excellent article– I wonder (in a generous reading towards the artist) if his design of the cake was a performance piece designed not to show the barbarity of African practices but the barbarity of Swedish culture. In this perspective, he created not only a despicible cake but engineered a despicable scene to highlight realities about European/ Swedish culture.The fact is that there have been calls for the Minister’s recognition is an awesome accomplishment for political art. To me, I looked at the picture and thought not of FGM but of the barbarity of elite Western/Swedish/ European culture. For those who have followed the artist and/or the discussion around the cake, do you think this is a valid interpretation? Am I imposing my own value onto the situation? Would love to hear opinions.