How an Italian Artist’s Misguided Attempt to Fight Racism in Soccer Completely Backfired

by admin

Dec 18, 2019

artnet

An Italian artist is currently
under fire for artwork he produced for an anti-racist initiative,
which is itself being received as overtly racist. The “No to
Racism” campaign, released by Italian soccer league Serie A, was
designed to combat the discrimination that has long plagued the
sport in Italy. Instead, it ended up sparking fresh outrage for
featuring three monkeys painted in the colors of various
teams.

Bigotry is an epidemic within
the Italian soccer world, and this latest move by Serie A sought to
address a recent incident in which Senegalese player Kalidou
Koulibaly was called a monkey by spectators in Milan. As a
response, commissioned artist Simone Fugazzotto created the
monkey-themed artwork, which immediately received backlash upon its
release on Monday. (Fugazzotto has made a career out of painting
monkeys in whimsical and unexpected scenarios.)

Though fury over the campaign
has only increased in intensity since then, Fugazzotto defends the
work, telling Artnet News: “The
message for me was clear. If we cannot stop stupid fans from
screaming ‘monkey’ at black people, then I will try to reverse the
concept by saying that everyone is an ape. Humans or apes: the
important thing is we are the same.”

"background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:500px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);">

View this post on Instagram

NUOVO REGALO . .
L’idea di questa campagna nasce da lontano, era il 26 dicembre ed
ero allo stadio a vedere Inter – Napoli, partita incredibile decisa
all’ultimo minuto dal mio Hermano @lautaromartinezz10 . Sento (ma
non era di certo la prima volta) insulti e versi di scimmia contro
un grandissimo giocatore, era @kkoulibaly26 . Mi sale una tale
rabbia che quasi di riflesso mi arriva un idea, perché non smettere
di censurare la parola scimmia nel calcio ma rigirare il concetto e
affermare invece che alla fine siamo tutti scimmie? Perché se siamo
essere umani, scimmie, anime reincarnate, energia o alieni
chissenefrega, l’importante è sentire un concetto di eguaglianza e
fratellanza. Grazie alla testardaggine mia e di @fabicutri , con
l’appoggio fondamentale di @seriea e #infront abbiamo reso realtà
quell’idea nata in uno stadio mesi fa. Ho dipinto il trittico in un
altro stadio, l’Olimpico di Roma durante la finale di coppa Italia
e l’immagine è finita a tutta pagina su @gazzettadellosport e
@corrieredellosport più svariati siti e testate. Se ci credete
anche voi come ci credo io condividete l’immagine con l’Hashtag
#NOTORACISM e seguite le stories perché posterò le tre opere che
voi potrete mettere insieme (taggatemi sarete tutti ricondivisi)
come preferite e il più creativo vincerà una cosa speciale. Grazie
a tutti voi, non lo chiedo mai ma in questo caso si, CONDIVIDETE
Simone . .
. . . #noracism #notoracism #simonefugazzotto #fugazzotto
#fugazzottoartist #art #contemporaryart #italiancontemporaryart
#saynotoracism #weareallthesame #social #gazzettadellosport #rai
#corrieredellosport #raiuno #seriea #different #eyes #same
#soul

A post shared by Simone Fugazzotto (@simonefugazzotto) on May
17, 2019 at 5:04am PDT

Others involved in the
controversy are taking the opposite stance. Serie A CEO Luigi De
Siervo ultimate apologized for the work yesterday, saying that
despite Fugazzotto’s explanation, the work is nevertheless
“questionable” overall. “What cannot be questioned is the strong
and constant condemnation by Lega Serie A against all forms of
discrimination and racism,” he told reporters, “which we are
committed to eradicating from our League.”

In the same vein,
representatives for the team AS
Roma spoke out on Twitter yesterday, stating: “We understand the league wants to tackle
racism but we don’t believe this is the right way to do it.” The
team’s account also retweeted a post shared by AC Milan, which
likewise expressed disdain for the images, and added that they
were “surprised by the total
lack of consultation.”

In an email to Artnet News,
Fugazzotto said that he agrees with Serie A’s decision to apologize
to those “who suffered my artwork as an offense.” However, he
nevertheless emphasized that the work was meant to act as a weapon
for the persecuted, specifying that he wanted to “give them a tool
to defend themselves.”

The post How an Italian Artist’s Misguided Attempt to Fight
Racism in Soccer Completely Backfired appeared first on artnet
News.