Most blog readers don’t click on the links, I have found. But if you don’t click on this link, don’t bother reading any further. The bottom line: a Swedish museum is displaying an artwork that would appear to glorify Palestinian suicide bombings. (In fairness I should note the artist, an expat Israeli, disavows this interpretation, see today’s NYT article “Israel Diplomat Defends Attack,” the link is temporarily down, the artist speaks of showing the incomprehensibility of such suicide bombings.) The initial link, of course, shows the image of the artwork, here is a summary from the article:
“Called Snow White And The Madness Of Truth, the installation features a photo of Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old trainee lawyer who blew up herself and 19 Israelis in a Haifa restaurant in October.
The work is accompanied by a piece of Bach music entitled My Heart Is Swimming In Blood.”
The photo itself appears to be swimming in a pool of blood.
The Israeli ambassador called the work “a call to genocide” and in fact threw a spotlight at it, which led to his restraint and a diplomatic incident between Israel and Sweden.
Related controversies have arisen in Germany. Museums wonder to what extent they should display works from the Nazi era. But of course there is a central difference: no one in the German museums (one hopes) feels they are endorsing the Nazi cause if they show some Nazi-era art. At least the art does not appear in a possibly supportive context for Nazi atrocities. In contrast I suspect many of the viewers in the Swedish museum, and perhaps some of the curators, sympathize with the Palestinian suicide bombers and regard the artwork as a kind of homage or memorial.
Mel Gibson’s forthcoming movie, about the life of Jesus, is considered by many to be anti-Semitic (it is available for limited viewing, the Pope likes it, I have not yet seen it). I have heard equally compelling reports that it is a wonderful work of art. What if both claims turn out to be true?
If I were a museum curator, I would not have displayed the work in question. This is in part because I do not sympathize with the Palestinian bombers, and in part because I see “political inflammation” as outside of the museum’s proper mission. You might have noticed that the work is being shown in an “antiquities” museum. At the same time, I will fork over my $8 to see the Mel Gibson movie and I don’t have a kneejerk objection to a museum exhibit of Soviet army recruiting posters. I’ll think more about this, and if I can come up with some consistent principles, I’ll pass them along in future posts.
Addendum:
An astute reader, Johan Richter, offers a (rough) translation of the accompanying text to the piece:
Once upon a time at midwinter
For her brothers and cousins death the 12 of june
and three drops of blood fell
She was a woman too
white as snow, red as blood, and her hair was black as ebony
appearantly innocent, without suspicious intent, and universal non-violent character
and the red was beautiful against the white
The murderer shall pay for this and we shall( or will) not be the only ones to cry
like a weed in her heart until she did not have any peace, neither day nor night
Hanadi Jaradat was a 29-year old lawyer
I shall run far away into the wild forest and never come home again
Before the engagement( to be married) took place he was killed in an engagement with Israeli security forces. ( This is not a pun. The two engagements are completly different words in Swedish but I couldn’t come up with any good synonyms.)
and she ran over sharp rocks and briar-bushes
She said: Your blood shall not have been let in vain
and almost pierced Snowwhite’s innocent heart
She was hospitilized, broken by sorrow, after witnessing the shooting
the wild animals will soon have devoured you
After his death she became the breadwinner and she concentrated completly on the task
“Yes”, said Snowwhite, “with all my heart”
bitterly crying, she added: “If our people can not fulfill its dreams and goals, then let the entire world be erased (or wiped out)”
so run then, poor child, run
She secretly entered Israel, ran into an restaurant in Haifa, shot down a security guard, blew herself up and murdered 19 civilians
white as snow, red as blood, and her hair was black as ebony
And certainly a lot of people are crying now: Zer Avivs family, Almogs family and all the relatives and friends of the dead and wounded
and the red was beautiful against the white
Here is the text in Swedish, Richter also notes that the piece is part of a more general display on genocide throughout the ages.
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