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Yay or Nay: a black Kate Moss for the Africa issue
The good: The Independent did an "Africa" issue on 21 September where half the revenues were donated to fight AIDS in Africa. The curious: they put a blackened Kate Moss on the cover and included a free black Kate Moss poster. This is a thornier moral question than last week's about Ashton Kutcher. Is The Independent right to use Kate Moss in order to sell more issues, to generate more revenue, resulting in more money to fight AIDS - even though they've used her in a very peculiar fashion, instead of using either an African model (or perhaps even someone who was not a model in the first place) or a cover celebrity who is, er, genuinely dark skinned? Crass for cash (for a good cause) or just plain wrong? Or is there a deep artistic statement here that I, despite spending a lifetime in art criticism, just ain't getting? Post your Yay or Nay in comments. [GT]
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September 27, 2006 in Agree or Disagree?, Arts & information, Fashion & accessories | Permalink
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Comments
I get that paper and was intrigued...did not realise it was Kate Moss til I read inside...
The main point they made was that if Kate Moss was from Africa she would x times more likely to die of Aids and so on...very powerful.
Nothing morally dubious about it in my estimation...great thought-provoking device
Namaste
Al
Posted by: Al | 27 Sep 2006 08:00:30
On a purely asethetic POV, I think Kate Moss looks good black.
And I agree with Al. I wonder if it would have provoked the same amount of comment if someone like Alex Wek had been on the cover?
Posted by: Camilla C | 27 Sep 2006 18:42:51
Aha, that's very interesting and _does_ make the use of Kate Moss appropriate as an eye-catcher. The article on Sepia Mutiny was unilaterally disparaging so I was very curious to see if there was actually a positive explanation for it. Thanks!
Posted by: Gabrielle Taylor | 28 Sep 2006 02:31:21
(And, I think, puts it in the "crass for cash (for a good cause)" category.)
Posted by: Gabrielle Taylor | 28 Sep 2006 02:32:21
