Greek removal of femicide artwork in US draws fire

NEW YORK

Greece's foreign minister was criticized on Dec. 20 for removing an artpiece addressing femicide from the country's consulate in New York.

The "Flag" by Brooklyn-based visual artist Georgia Lale is composed of bedsheets offered by women living in Greece in tribute to female murder victims and portrays the Greek flag in pink and red bands, instead of the traditional blue and white colors.

The work was part of a program showcasing the work of Greek artists in New York that opened at the consulate on Dec. 15.

The small nationalist Nike party complained in Greece's parliament on Dec. 17 that the artwork made the national flag look like a "rag."

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said although he supported the freedom of artistic expression, Greek state buildings ought to remain "neutral" in artistic debate.

The Greek consulate "is not a private gallery," he told Skai radio on Dec. 20, explaining its removal. The minister added that the order to remove the flag was given last week, "long before" the Nike party protest on Dec. 10.

Lale, who is non-binary, said in a statement the work had been "censored" by the ministry, and that the artist had also removed a second piece out of concerns for its safety.

The second artwork titled "Neighborhood Guilt" is a quilt marked with information on each victim of femicide in Greece last year, Lale said.

"This exhibition addresses the phenomena of femicide and domestic violence," the artist's website said. "The flag and the quilt are created out of bed sheets donated by women that live in Greece. The majority of victims of femicide are killed in their houses and on their beds."

In an email to AFP, the artist also contradicted the foreign minister's timeline, noting that his intervention came on Dec. 18, a day after the debate in parliament.

"There is no worse feeling for an artist to have their work censored and removed from an exhibition," Lale told AFP.

In a report last month, the ministry of social cohesion said femicides in Greece had quadrupled from six in 2012 to 24 in 2022. It also cited police figures showing cases of violence against women jumping from around 1,600 to over 10,000 during the same period.