Poor taste? Or exceedingly poor taste?

July 31, 2013 6:11 PM

I've got a length of gorgeous African fabric...with the image of a terrible dictator on it. What should I do with this?

I traveled extensively in Africa around 1991, and spent several weeks in what was then Zaire. While I was there, I was enthralled with the multi-colored fabrics local women used to create their dresses, robes and sarong-like skirts, and determined that I would purchase some.

It was shortly after a period of "celebration" commemorating Mobuto Sese Seko's 20th year in office. Consequently, the shops and fabric stalls were full of fabric made for the occasion, and I chose one of the prints -- it's the fabric shown in this picture.

I bought several yards of it. At the time, I thought it gorgeous, in a kitschy way, and the perfect souvenir of my time in the country. I didn't know much about the political situation, and though I was traveling in an extremely rustic, low-budget way, none of the locals I encountered talked to me about politics or their thoughts about their leader. In fact, they went out of their way not to discuss politics - and I'm afraid I was too naive to understand what that meant. (There was also a language gap.)

Then I got home and one thing led to another and I ended up never using the fabric. What should I do with it now? Throw it away? Donate it somewhere? The stupid thing is that it's still so amazingly beautiful -- such vibrant colors, and that crazy portrait of him. It seems terrible to just toss it in the trash. But it seems equally terrible to make something from it -- I wouldn't want Hitler pillows on my sofa, or a Stalin throw over the back of a chair.

Thoughts?

posted by BlahLaLa to Grab Bag (37 answers total)

It would be exceedingly poor taste to wear a garment made of that. IMHO.
posted by gjc at 6:13 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Donate it to some textile museum that can display it in its proper context (if they ever want to display it.)
posted by vitabellosi at 6:16 PM on July 31, 2013 [14 favorites]

It seems like it would be easy enough to cover the portrait with black dye and cover the yellow words mentioning him in the black circle with black dye too.

It also seems like there's enough of the green pattern that if you have several yards of this, you could just use that.
posted by cairdeas at 6:17 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

You could cut out the face and banner parts and use the rest (the green design part) to make something small like a pillow or some other piece work. The green design part is beautiful.

If it was me I'd do something symbolic like burn or bury the face part.
posted by Jalliah at 6:19 PM on July 31, 2013

-- I should say that I've had a similar dilemma with KKK artifacts from the 1920's, from my home town in Western NY. Except in my case, my goal in holding them was to 1) preserve evidence of a dark local history that is often conveniently forgotten in this Northern state, and 2) keep them from ending up in some terrible person's personal white supremacy collection. I have 30 years of the farmer's personal diaries, and my mother once lived in rented rooms in the farmer's house when she was young. I plan to donate the lot to a rare book collection. I will only give them the diaries if they'll also take the artifacts. I trust them not to glorify the artifacts.
posted by vitabellosi at 6:22 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Wear it as a tribute to a great blogger

honestly, you can keep it and even wear it in the same ironic spirit that blogger used the name

if you don't want to, e-bay it or give it to a vintage store
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 6:25 PM on July 31, 2013

I don't know how feasible this is, but it would look really cool if you mounted a circular piece of art directly over the problematic area, and left the neat abstract design as a sort of mat, and framed the whole thing.
posted by threeants at 6:32 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

honestly, who would recognize him?
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 6:46 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Expanding on threeants' idea, maybe snag a frame from Goodwill, stretch the fabric over the back, excise the offending likeness, and fill in the cutout with a collage of photographs from your travels (or, if you don't have any, some nice professional photos of all the places you visited)?
posted by divined by radio at 6:47 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

If you are craftily-minded, I think you could make a lovely work of art out of it, if you did some more legwork in gathering images and doing research about the people he affected. I'm thinking you could cut his portrait out, apply decorative edgings, and inset a collage of images of the real people and culture that actually made that fabric. Maybe you have other souvenirs from your travels that you could combine in some way? But I think whatever you do with it, you would have to be purposeful, and have it make a statement, not just be kitschy. I think, considering how lovely the fabric is, and the ugliness of what he did, there's definitely something there to be said. And I think there's value in having a piece like that in your home.
posted by Mizu at 6:49 PM on July 31, 2013

That is tricky - perhaps you can keep one iteration of the portrait part as a souvenir, and then use the rest in such a way that you cut around the portrait and make something out of it?

I like threeants suggestion too - do you have any other mementos or pictures from that trip you could mount in the center to cover the portrait?

also - holy crap! I was traveling in that same area that year too! I remember everyone wearing those crazy fabrics, with portraits, but also incorporating drawings of all the supposed riches of Zaire, like diamonds, and coffee, animal skins... It was so weird seeing the country being glorified in that way when it was such a mess. the roads. wow.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:53 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

honestly, who would recognize him?

I assume that someone who was tortured by his regime, or who had their families murdered by them, would.

I wouldn't, but the big word "MOBUTU" in the ring around the picture would make me guess it was him.
posted by Flunkie at 7:00 PM on July 31, 2013 [28 favorites]

this might be a guide

Not many people there knew who the actual Mobutu was. You don't hear about Mobutu Sese Seko in high school, and unless you study Africa, you probably will not hear about him in college. Yes, he was a monster, but he was our monster: our man in Kinshasa, installed by the CIA, fattened for decades on our aid—to the point that the term kleptocracy was invented to describe his theft—our happy sometime-satellite in a stupid proxy war with the Soviet Union. Most of us don't give a shit about the Congo unless the stuff we mine there to make cell phones suddenly gets scarce or expensive.

In college, our shitty plays got some people asking who this person was. Now, at least once a week, I receive emails or tweets from people who've been prompted to look it up. They're glad to have learned the history. Those people outnumber the ones who voice offense by almost two orders of magnitude.

Then again, my personal Facebook page for Mobutu gets about half a dozen friend requests per week from fans of the actual murderous piece of shit himself. (Please read my archive and get fucked.) Maybe I'm rationalizing a white man's privilege. People who've been angered by the name, you have my heartiest apologies. If I'd thought using the name could seriously be taken as praise for the man himself, I don't know if I could have used it.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:04 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Erg...kind of feels like folks are suggesting how to make a nice quilt out of the non-swastika bits of a Nazi flag. This is a piece of history. But it's also not really your place to black out the face or burn it ceremonially, IMO. The textile museum suggestion sounds good. Or some kind of museum that will treat it like what it is: an artifact.

There's a Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.
The British Museum also has an African Textiles section.

These places probably get lots of donations like this.

Also, there's nothing necessarily wrong with your holding on to this as a remembrance of that time and your trip. It's just...making pillows or whatever out of it. Maybe leave that to Urban Outfitters?
posted by Miss T.Horn at 7:15 PM on July 31, 2013 [20 favorites]

It depends on you. It would matter to me, and I'd toss it. If it doesn't matter like that to you, then any other use is equally valid.
posted by LonnieK at 7:24 PM on July 31, 2013

Erg...kind of feels like folks are suggesting how to make a nice quilt out of the non-swastika bits of a Nazi flag. This is a piece of history.

I definitely see where you're coming from, but I sort of feel like if swastika-pattern fabric had been commercially produced in mass quantity twenty years ago, I'd be comfortable with people excising the offending parts and putting the rest of that to practical use, too.
posted by threeants at 7:48 PM on July 31, 2013

wear it in the same ironic spirit that blogger used the name

Dude. No.


OP, I would either 01) trim out the offending bits and use the rest for smaller non-clothing items or 02) donate it to the museum mentioned above.

I'm not sure that I'd see it in the same light as the nazi memorabilia parallel drawn above, unless the bright green pattern is somehow specifically indicative of Mobutu? It doesn't seem to be his official regalia, so to speak; I wouldn't see it and immediately associate it with him as I would with a leopard print fez-ish hat.

I would not sell it on ebay or elsewhere because of the likelihood of it being purchased by some idiot who wanted to make an ironic outfit out of it.

I might use the face part as a dartboard though.
posted by elizardbits at 7:50 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

Sounds like this kind of fabric was all over the place. I doubt it's going to needed as a historical artifact. I would shop online to find other African fabrics and make a quilt or wall hanging using everything but the face which I would throw out.
posted by HMSSM at 7:50 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

You've answered your own question: I wouldn't want Hitler pillows on my sofa, or a Stalin throw over the back of a chair.

No, seriously, donate or throw it. Between the ickiness of the long and storied history of White people appropriating POC garments/traditions/culture for themselves (yes, I know you bought this in Zaire, but my immediate reaction upon seeing something 'ethnic' on a White person is, oh, for God's stake, stop with the appropriative BS already) and the fact that this fabric, y'know, glorifies a dictator and one who was propped up by White/Western interests.... yeah. no.

Don't, seriously. Just don't.
posted by Tamanna at 7:52 PM on July 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

Best answer: I remember everyone wearing those crazy fabrics, with portraits, but also incorporating drawings of all the supposed riches of Zaire, like diamonds, and coffee, animal skins

I wouldn't have noticed those but for 5_13_23_42_69_666's pointing them out. The patterned portions of the fabric are very distinctive and a mark of his regime, even if a less obvious one. Just using it as a decorative pattern doesn't seem right, these are the political symbols of a regime you find abhorrent -- even if they aren't well known, you know what they mean, and even the abstract looking parts of the pattern were designed as a political message.

I don't see anything wrong with keeping it -- as a souvenir of your travels, it has a unique value to you of reminding you of a different and more naive way of viewing the world, and what you have learned since then -- it's deeper in meaning to you than a lot of souvenirs. Displaying it is a bit more fraught, but creating an art piece about the people of the country might work.

If you want to donate it to a museum, please ask first if they would like it. If you wouldn't be comfortable with selling it, don't donate it to a thrift store. If none of these seem like a solution, throw it away.
posted by yohko at 7:56 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far. I'm definitely leaning toward donating it - and for crying out loud the British Museum JUST had an exhibit on modern African textiles!

I don't remember how many yards I have -- but I do remember it's more than I wanted to buy. The "regular" fabric that all these shops and kiosks sold was available in virtually any length; the "special" fabric was pre-cut into a particular length and you had to take that or nothing. If I remember correctly each precut length was sort of folded up and sealed with an official sticker; I'm pretty sure mine still has that official sticker, so maybe that adds to its value as an artifact?

And thanks, 5_13_23_42_69_666, for reminding me of my journey there -- oy vey, those roads! It wasn't until you mentioned it that I realized the green part of the pattern is all about the FABULOUS RICHES OF ZAIRE! The diamonds! The coffee! I don't know what the others stand for, however.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:06 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

honestly, who would recognize him?

I most certainly would, and I know a number of people who would. We may be outliers, but the fact that you might not know who Mobutu was doesn't mean that this is knowledge that escaped everyone else in the United States.
posted by scody at 8:14 PM on July 31, 2013 [9 favorites]

You could deface his photo - fake mustache, or a word written across his face.
posted by bunderful at 8:37 PM on July 31, 2013

Cut it into strips, braid it, and sew it into a rag rug. The colors will be gorgeous and you won't have to look at that guy's evil face.
posted by padraigin at 8:50 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

Best answer: "honestly, who would recognize him?"

I wouldn't have recognized his face as a young man, but dude, even if his name weren't in big caps around him, he is wearing the hat. Its like Hitler mustache iconic if Hitler had made wearing his style of mustache illegal.
posted by Blasdelb at 9:11 PM on July 31, 2013

Cut it up, dye the pieces that made up the face, and make it into a quilt. There are people on Etsy ready to assist you if you need a quilter.
posted by Soliloquy at 9:11 PM on July 31, 2013

Best answer: Curator Mary Jo Arnoldi at the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution collects African political textiles and might be interested in a donation.
posted by gudrun at 10:23 PM on July 31, 2013 [18 favorites]

This is a piece of history and should be preserved--not altered or covered up. Maybe stretch it over a frame and hang it in a personal office or somewhere else that no one will never see.
posted by LarryC at 10:45 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

You could make it into a skirt. Right after the Pope visited southern Africa in 1988 a whole bunch of textiles were made up with his face on. It was not uncommon to see amply built ladies walking down the street with the Pope's face merrily bouncing along on each buttock. It was funny when it was the Pope because of the incongruity but perhaps a fitting way to treat a dictator.

You'd still probably have enough to donate, too.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:51 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I would never wear or use this, and frankly, am appalled at anyone thinking it's different than displaying memorabilia of European dictators. Why is that? Because he fucked over Africans?

My first choice would be to contact the institutions mentioned to see if they want the fabric. (To people who might never get to visit again, they're understandably rare and special, but here they're incredibly commonplace because they are everyday items. Yours might be worth something to them or it might not.)

If no one wants it and you can't part with it for sentimental reasons--do you have a keepsake box? This is what I have for things I own that have sentimental value that I don't have out. It seems like the perfect place for such a thing. It's a memory that's important to you but you really should not display it without any context. I would feel fine bringing it out to show it to friends and explain what it is, though.

I also like the idea of incorporating it a piece into a display about your time in Zaire. Along with a couple of news articles, photographs you took, etc, it could be quite interesting and not look like you are just blithely ignoring the history and implications of using such an item because of "ooh, pretty."
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I don't know what the others stand for, however.

I think that the curved triangles on the right shoulder of that jacket are elephant tusks. the right sleeve has cups and shields - shields being a pretty common emblem on African flags and such. Also one of the items seems to be an obelisk. I remember that some of the towns had obelisk statues in the center that were commemorating... something? Mobutu's reign? Zaire becoming a country? I should look over my travel pictures and see if anything rings a bell. I'd love to hear more about your trip BlahLaLa - memail me if you'd like to share stories.

And donating the cloth to a textile museum would be a great thing to do with it - especially if it still has the official sticker, that sounds really interesting.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:49 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Perhaps see if a museum in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (as Zaire is now called) would want it. It at least has some historical and cultural relevance there, although it stands the risk of ending up in the hands of someone who admires MSS.
posted by epo at 5:02 AM on August 1, 2013

Donate it to a museum or toss it. Treating a dictator's propaganda as a travel memento is really really really icky and cannot be good luck or good energy.
posted by spunweb at 6:03 AM on August 1, 2013

Best answer: Donate it to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. If it was ever displayed odds are they would not celebrate the dictator but you it to teach others about dictatorship with an eye to preventing dictatorship in the future.
posted by Rob Rockets at 6:34 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, everybody. I will definitely go ahead and see if one of these places will take it as a donation. If not, I will likely just shove it in a closet and hold onto it as a souvenir. I don't like the idea of cutting out or otherwise defacing the Mobutu portions and using the rest -- and that was before I realized those patterns had more than just a decorative meaning. Appreciate the advice.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:48 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

You could apply a patch over the face. or you could get some flexible clear plastic, like the kind blankets and sheets come in, and make prison bars to applique over the face. or the circle/bar icon. of course, if the Smithsonian exhibited it, it would be "the kind gift of BlahLaLa" and that would be cool.
posted by theora55 at 10:39 AM on August 1, 2013

Mod note: Final update from the OP:

Took me a while to find a taker, but this fabric now resides at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History after being acquired (for free) by the Curator of African Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology.

posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:09 PM on April 20, 2020 [7 favorites]