14 DAY TRIAL // The part-time performance artist decided to stir some controversy with photos exhibiting almost naked white women around his neck like scarves. The act is meant to draw attention on the perception of interracial relationships by objectifying white women.
The 36-year-old artist, called Nate Hill, poses in a tuxedo while petite white women hang around his neck with little or no clothing to stir interest on the “issue about black men who might think of being with white women as a status symbol,” Hill told MailOnline.
The “Trophy Scarves“ project began four months ago and exhibits both professional photographs and mirror selfies posted on Twitter and Instagram. @TrophyScarves already gathered thousands of followers that, as expected, showed an array of mixed reactions concerning the so-called art performance.
The extreme reaction Hill targeted happened, people bashing his way of picturing women as objects for men to parade. Others admired and understood the reasons behind the photos, supporting the artist's performance and encouraging self-examination.
Nate has been confronted with this kind of interracial relationship since childhood, his father being black and his mother white. “I am not really black, I'm half black but I don't really identify as black, for me it's role playing, I'm playing the role of a black man,” the artist says.
“Trophy Scarves” is about black men who perceive white women as a status symbol in society and expressing a deep racial issue. The feminist community was outraged by the images and reacted with anger and disgust. They even hinted at the controversy that could be started if a white man would drape a black woman around his neck as scarf, would that be perceived as slavery issues?
Nate admitted that the performance is actually objectifying women, that is obvious, but that shows the purpose of his message. He couldn't have started this kind of reaction if he hadn't used women in expressing the core of the problem.