"Kimono Wednesdays"
Artist: Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Year:
Date of Action: July 2015
Region: North America
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Subject: Racial/Ethnic
Medium: Performance Art
Confronting Bodies: Decolonize Our Museums, formerly Stand Against Yellow Face (SAYF)
Description of Artwork: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston invited visitors to wear and be photographed wearing a replica of the kimono in Claude Monet’s painting “La Japonaise" on Wednesday evenings from June 24, 2015, to July 29, 2015. A "Spotlight" talk, originally titled "Claude Monet: Flirting With the Exotic," was to accompany the interactive exhibit.
The Incident: Protestors, some affiliated with Decolonize Our Museums (formerly Stand Against Yellow Face) and active on social media, accused the museum of racism and cultural appropriation. Around two dozen engaged around a dozen counter-protestors, who supported the exhibit, in the gallery.
Results of Incident: The museum cancelled "Kimono Wednesdays." The accompany talk was then titled "Claud Monet: 'La Japonaise'", new talks were added, and visitors were only allowed to touch the kimonos, not wear them. The group Decolonize Our Museums states, as of December 2015, on its webpage, "Currently, we are in dialogue with new MFA director Matthew Teitelbaum to plan an event on cultural appropriation and exchange."
Source:
• https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2015/07/18/counter-protesters-join-kimono-fray-mfa/ZgVWiT3yIZSlQgxCghAOFM/story.html,
• http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33450391,
• http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2015/07/stop-orientalism-on-boston-mfas-kimono-wednesdays/,
• http://decolonizeourmuseums.tumblr.com,
• http://www.mfa.org/news/2015/july
