H’ween race rage
Dolls seem to dangle on strings
A Brooklyn art studio owner is under fire for a racially explosive Halloween window display that featuring brown paper dolls that appeared to be hanging by their necks from strings.
Among the neighbors and passersby offended by the Clinton Hill decorations were administrators at nearby Public School 11, who asked the studio owner to take them down.
A neighborhood parent said she was walking by Wednesday with her 4-year-old twins when she saw the troubling display. She said she took pictures and knocked on the door, but got no answer.
“We were immediately offended by it,” said the woman, who did not want her name to be used for fear of harm to her or her kids. “I wanted to know why she would do something like that.”
The mother went back to the school and notified the principal before posting the photos on Facebook under the name Love Jones.
“Her window faces the schoolyard,” the outraged mother said. “The kids can look outside and see her window.”
The display was photographed and shared on Facebook the same day President Trump compared the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry to a lynching.
The chagrined studio owner, Dany Rose, quickly apologized and removed the display, but not before the posted pictures triggered an angry backlash.
Rose, who co-founded Artshack, a nonprofit ceramic art studio in Bedford-Stuyvesant, could not be reached for comment.
But she posted a lengthy apology on Facebook, and urged offended neighbors and followers not to take out their anger on the gallery.
“I made a tremendous mistake,” Rose said in the post. “I now realize the harm and hurt caused by the unacceptable imagery I used in my Halloween decorations at my home and understand how it connects to the centuries of historical trauma in this country.
“Please trust that I will take the time to educate myself and my family and will do everything in my power to make amends. I hope this incident does not take away from all the hardworking, respected members of the Artshack community, and the work that we do for our community.”
Rose went on to explain that her intent was to pay tribute to the movie, “Annabelle,” a 2014 horror film about a supernatural murder spree, and a creepy porcelain doll.
Two of the four brown figures in the window appeared to have nooses around their necks. Another doll was hanging upside-down with a rope tied on one of its legs.
“The images were based on the horror movie ‘Annabelle,’ but because they were made of brown kraft paper and hanging from strings, they were deeply racially offensive,” said Rose, who is white. “No one should have had to point out this obvious fact to me, and I immediately removed the figures when I was contacted by school officials from P.S.11, across the street from my home.”