By Damion Boycott
A magazine in Spain has come under scrutiny for portraying Michelle Obama as a slave on it's cover. The semi-nude image has sparked public outrage, and is considered racially insensitive by many. Fuera De Serie Magazine has used the head of Michelle Obama super imposed on the body of a female slave. The portrait is a parody of a famous painting by a French artist named Marie Guilhemine Benois which was done in 1800 prior to the end of African enslavement.
The image shows Michelle Obama with her breast exposed and with her head wrapped with a piece of fabric. The American flag draped over the back of the chair she is sitting on. The Article is entitled "Michelle, Granddaughter Of A Slave, Lady Of America". The art is the work of a white visual artist named Karine Percheron- Daniels who has done a series of "nudes". Her portraits include images of Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Abraham Lincoln and even Barack Obama. In an effort to defend her painting Daniels said "I offer an alternative unexpected reality".
The article allegedly praises Mrs. Obama. If the magazine was interested in praising The First Lady they would have used a more respectable image of her on their cover. Art should spark controversy and conversation. No one should be in favor of censorship, however, not all art belongs on magazine covers. We have never seen nude or semi-nude images of Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton on the cover of any magazine. Why then is it so easy to disrespect the current first lady? Fuera De Serie would never use the image of a Jewish elected official at the height of The Holocaust on it's cover. Why is it so easy for them to portray the first African American First Lady on it's cover as a slave? This is obviously racist imagery and shows a severe lack of respect for Mrs. Obama.