Another day, another controversial image or story. This day, it comes from a woman usually greatly loved in fashion but not so much right now. Mira Duma (Miroslava Duma), editor and founder of Buro247 published an exclusive interview with Russian socialite and editor Dasha Zhukova (here) which discusses West Russian art and her fashion magazine 'Garbage Garage'. The depth of the interview does nothing to offend but rather the images that accompany the article which stand alone as a distraction to render the remaining article contents useless. The images I refer to are of Dasha sitting on a cushion supported by a black practically naked woman mannequin used as the chair frame. I don't really understand the concept behind such an image, let alone item but I do understand the impact it has had on people given the 690+ comments already posted on instagram that describe the image as distasteful, degrading, racist and insulting, and most of those were from non-ethnic minorities.
I found that the chair resembles the 1969 three female figures by Allen Jones (details here) and although his figures were Caucasian, these objects are degrading whichever race, gender or color they are made to depict. Why Mira would have used this editorial image to represent this article and then display it on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day which made the publication even more offensive, is beyond me and as 'mariandherworld' commented on instagram, "The artist/ photographer/ stylist must try and look beyond their ego and look at the whole picture" and its implications. TL. Xx
(Mira Dima's Instagram post)
What are your thoughts on this piece? Is it just a chair?
UPDATE (20/01/14): Mira has since removed the post from her instagram page.