"Barbie Slave Ship" Topic

link

You can't make this up!
did I beat Armand to it?

link fixed…

John;
That's actually kind of interesting in a twisted sort of way…

Eric

That's why I posted it, for the twisted sort of people.

As a (largely self-appointed) Boat Guy, I don't think that that's the sort of ship that would generally be used as a slaver. As a (largely self-appointed) Art Guy, I feel that if I have to read the Artist's Statement to figure out what he's on about, then the artist hasn't succeeded in his task. Just the same, it's a cool (yet twisted) idea. One also has to respect the amount of work that he put into it. Thanks, John, for finding this one.

Ron

"stick to what has been defined for you" included in a code written by a man who creates an exhibit about oppression.

Ironic.

DM

It's not pink enough to be Barbie.

I don't think that that's the sort of ship that would generally be used as a slaver

A 94 gun ship-of-the-line? That was my thought too.

However.

It's possible he deliberately chose it to emphasize;

a) the profound violence of the slave trade
b) that the power of governments (including democracies) supported the slave trade
c) that governments today support, sometimes literally with armed force, trade and business dealings which are both morally reprehensible and harmful to millions while benefitting a very few.
d) that the mindset which perpetuates the objectification of women is no less imposing for being antiquated.

I thought the Chanel guillotine was also thought provoking.

Enfant, I agree with your interpretation of the artist's choice of the warship as a slave ship. It's an art piece, not a historical diorama.

And you beat me to the Chanel guillotine. I thought that was an even better statement, on several levels, than the slave ship. The tyranny of fashion, the powerful being hoist by their own petards. If I was a member of the "1% of the 1%," that's the kind of image that would haunt my dreams.

I see it equally as an accusing finger pointing at those who don't have excess disposable income, yet waste untold money on expensive and unnecessary luxuries, figuratively cutting their own throat to have the "right brand" of fluff.

The third side of that triangle is the companies that will sponsor ANYTHING if it increases visibility.

More good points.

And it would make a cool terrain piece for a post-apocalyptic game.

Holy moley.

So how would you go about waterlining that puppy to use in a game (and who's going to build an opponent for it)? Add some RC motors and loading mechanisms for the working cannon…

I've read that many whites who came to the U.S. early in its history were indentured servants. They were often treated like slaves, which is what they were. One author made the point that the ancestors of blacks and many whites have much in common.

I've also read that blacks and arabs had a hand in the slave trade, and that some blacks and native Americans in the U.S. were even slave holders themselves.

I too think the slave trade was evil, and am glad that it was ended. Having said that, I'm just not overwhelmed about a model ship that depicts white Barbie doll slaves stuffed into the hold of a ship. To me, this model gives the message that whites were solely responsible for the wickedness of slavery and deserve to be punished for it, even to this very day. In short, more white guilt.

I think it's important that people know about history and give it some thought, especially about how we might conduct ourselves wisely in the times in which we live. But I'm starting to question why slavery is being revisited as often as it is these days. I won't elaborate on this, but I have become very concerned about whether certain parts of American society can ever live in peace with each other. If certain parts of the past are forever paraded before us, it can affect people in different ways. For instance, descendents of slaves can be manipulated into a continual sense of victimhood, anger, and entitlement, or whites can be made to feel that their race is wicked and unforgivable. I don't think either of these reactions is healthy.

To come back to the model ship with the Barbies, yes, it did make me think, but probably not in the way the model's creator would have preferred.

Well said Jeigheff.

I suspect that the ship being a man of war rather than a merchantman is thanks to mere ignorance on the part of the artist. Me, I'm quite grateful to the men of war of the Royal Navy that did more in practical terms to eliminate slavery than any other agency, before or since.

All the best,

John.

Agreed John D Salt.
I think the sculptor was trying to get artistic points for being against slavery – as if we have so much work at present that glorifies the practice

To me, this model gives the message that whites were solely responsible for the wickedness of slavery

To me, this model tells me way more than I want to know about the sexual fantasies of the artist.

Further, indentured servants were like slaves, but they were freed if they lived long enough and their children were born free.

And yes, everyone who could make a profit engaged in the slave trade, regardless of race, creed or color.

Jeigheff is on to something. I just went into the internet, and typed "White sent into slavery in the USA."

Among other sites, I found this:

link

Turn the ship around. Send it back!

My wife is from an old New England family. One of her ancestors was caught harboring a Quaker back in colonial days, a big no-no in Puritan Connecticut. They took her down to the docks and tried to sell her to a slave ship. The ship wouldn't take her. She was sent back to England. In time she made her way back across the Atlantic and settled in eastern Long Island.

Cool to see a discussion about art on the TMP!
Nice idea, wrong ship!

Well, thank god somebody brought up indentured servitude, and the fact that the Africans were complicit in the trade, and that free blacks and Indians owned slaves too.

I'll go ahead and add that slavery existed in the Northern states for a time, and that slavery today persists in Africa and the Middle East, what else am I missing…

Oh yes, the Muslims of North Africa and the Levant raided Europe for white slaves for hundreds of years, even into the 19th Century! Many cities and towns in the Northern U.S. had Jim Crow-like ordinances into the 1950s and '60s! And don't get me started on how we treated the Indians, for Pete's sake!

yes, it did make me think, but probably not in the way the model's creator would have preferred.

Reader-response theory teaches us that the artist's ideas don't matter, it's what the audience brings to the piece of art which creates any meaning.

So it got you thinking about man's cruelty and greed, that's good.

I also think using the Barbie's may not be so much about white-liberal-guilt as more about turning people into a commodity generally.

Errr, I posted this because I thought it was dumb. Not because I wanted any thoughtful intellectual discussion!

See? It's under "Utter Drivel" and "Needs more Boobies"!

Well, he could always have sailed into controversial waters by being avant garde and floating it in a pool of urine, maybe even have turned it into participation art by allowing spectators to add their own "contribution". But agreed, it's pretty dumb….

See John, even you can help perpetuate and influence cultural exchange. The man's work is genius.

Errr, I posted this because I thought it was dumb. Not because I wanted any thoughtful intellectual discussion!

The best laid plans of mice and OFMs . . .

or

John the OFM: Popularizer of avant garde art since March 15, 2014.

Errr, I posted this because I thought it was dumb.

the artist's ideas don't matter, it's what the audience brings to the piece of art which creates any meaning.

Jinx.

John the OFM: Popularizer of avant garde art since March 15, 2014.

Ordinarily I would slit my wrists in anguish over that, but I had a real fun game of Neil Thomas Ancients with a Viking raid on Norman Saxon villages, had some cheap tasty lager, and my friends were GREAT friends tonight.
So, I will let it pass.

My first reaction at the title was to ask if Ken was chained in the bottom of the ship, but I see that more serious comments have erupted in the thread. :(

I don't see what "white guilt" has to do with the memory of slavery. White people have now no reason to be ashamed: we were not born then; so we also have no reason to try to blame non-white slavers, or talk about white slaves, to minimize the facts – that's just some misplaced white pride. Slavery, and all crimes against Mankind, must be remembered; not to blame the guilt on any peculiar human group (white slavers, or muslim traders, or African petty kings, or whoever) but because such things must not happen, and still happen.

It's an art exhibit in France. Does anyone even care what the cheese-eating surrender monkeys do any more.

This reminds me of a book, "Slaves in the Family" by Edward Ball, the descendant of a slave-owning South Carolina family. He researched his family, the people they owned and the people they begot and owned. One of his cousins threatened him and said not to write the book.

Late in the book are his interviews of well-to-do African descendants of the princes who traded slaves. His reception got decidedly frosty when he started asking questions about where the wealth came from. I recommend the book. The man can write.

Now…Let's play with this for a moment.

When I first saw this I was imagining something like Queen Cleopatra's Barge from the Taylor-Burton movie only with Barbie dolls as the Galley slaves in cute little barely-there outfits.

That might have been interesting.

Interesting discussion.

Hey now, the Germans eat cheese also, and they surrendered twice. Seems they ought to be wearing the Cheese-eating surrender monkey championship belt.

Or did they opt for the kraut-eating oppressor monkey title. I can't recall.

I would sack all their ship's carpenters. Those planks are all over the place!

LOL the artist missed the chance to put a Captain Jack Sparrow doll in command of the ship…. ;-)

There are currently millions in slavery throughout the world, including vast numbers of children. In some countries they're even sold to their oppressors by their parents.

I've been wondering whether the disappearance of that Malaysian Airlines jet is connected with the modern slave trade. There's a theory it's been diverted to Central Asia. Maybe the Uzbek despot isn't satisfied with merely enslaving the entire population of his country.

Interesting discussion – reminds me of the saying that "moral arithmetic rarely yields tidy sums."

where is ken?

Ken 'came out' and eloped with Action Man years ago!

Probably a subject best left alone. Hard to game anyway.