Standing Against Yellowface @ The MFA: “Kimono Wednesdays” Cancelled

AAPI Activism shuts down “Kimono Wednesdays” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Protesters display signs on June 23 in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. The museum eventually canceled the ‘Kimono Wednesday’ event, which invited visitors to try on a replica kimono in front of Claude Monet’s ‘La Japonaise.’ | AP / JOHN BLANDING / BOSTON GLOBE (via Japan Times)

Stand Against Yellowface @ the MFA:

• List of protest organizers’ Demands and Charges
• FAQs of the Protest
• Stand Against Yellowface @ the MFA Tumblr

Follow Amber Ying on Twitter

White model posing with kimono and fan, mimicking Monet's orientalism, as a study. #mfaboston #whitesupremacyskills http://t.co/xu6IITKItO—
Amber Ying (@diabola) July 01, 2015

Protestors front and center, next to the painting and the rotating white model. #mfaboston #whitesupremacykills pic.twitter.com/zFAJPqMQlx

— Amber Ying 應 緣 🇹🇼 🏳️‍🌈 🦁 (@amberying) July 1, 2015

Asian Americans and allies gather with signs. #mfaboston #whitesupremacykills pic.twitter.com/CxHZ7X4oQy

— Amber Ying 應 緣 🇹🇼 🏳️‍🌈 🦁 (@amberying) July 8, 2015

The educational literature we are asked not to hand out. #mfaboston #whitesupremacykills pic.twitter.com/Hwb8Pu1GuE

— Amber Ying 應 緣 🇹🇼 🏳️‍🌈 🦁 (@amberying) July 8, 2015

The replica kimonos on display this week. People will be invited to touch them. #mfaboston #whitesupremacykills pic.twitter.com/vOzjaG73Dw

— Amber Ying 應 緣 🇹🇼 🏳️‍🌈 🦁 (@amberying) July 8, 2015

HEADLINES

HuffPost:  Museum’s ‘Kimono Wednesdays’ Cancelled After Claims Of Racism

LA Times:  Boston art museum cancels kimono event after claims of racism

Japan Times:  Cries of racism prompt Boston art museum to cancel ‘Kimono Wednesdays’

BACKGROUND

Image and comment thread from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Facebook page, post dated June 19, 2015. (via bigredandshiny.org)

BigRedAndShiny:  Demonstrators Protest Cultural Appropriation in MFA Galleries

Yellowface at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, February 19, 2015.

Our Post on Yellowface at AAMSF (02/24/15):  Yellowface is Such a Drag

Of course, what would an AAPI protest be without a counterprotest on behalf of honorary white status:

A counterprotest! This person wants to bring back Kimono Wednesdays so he can try on the garment himself. #mfaboston pic.twitter.com/DFrZxWYUP3

— Amber Ying 應 緣 🇹🇼 🏳️‍🌈 🦁 (@amberying) July 8, 2015

Just a reminder that Orientalism is indeed integral to white supremacist structural racism (and no need to call it “neo” Orientalism, because after centuries of investment in this system of “knowledge,” it is liberal fantasy to believe it ever went away—case in point: the genealogy of East Asian studies at major US universities, aka “American Orientalism“).

Andrea Smith’s Three Pillars of White Supremacy (2010).