Swedish Minister of Culture Lena Lijeroth eating a cake made in image of an African woman

[pampango]

15. Looks like you are right about her not resigning.

Swedish Culture Minister Refuses to Resign Over Bizarre Photo-Op

Sweden’s culture minister clarified on Wednesday that she has no intention of resigning over photographs of her taking part in a performance art piece on female genital mutilation, which featured a cake shaped like a stereotypical African tribeswoman that screamed when it was cut into.

Ms. Liljeroth defended her participation in the event in a statement on the ministry’s Web site headlined, “Art Must Be Allowed to Provoke,” but also apologized for any unintentional offense she had caused and agreed to meet with leaders of the Afro-Swedish group on Wednesday afternoon.

Before that meeting, the culture minister’s press secretary, Karolin A. Johansson, told The Lede in a telephone interview that Ms. Liljeroth “would definitely not resign” for her role in an artistic event that celebrated “freedom of expression, the struggle against censorship and art’s freedom to challenge and provoke.”

The minister’s participation in the performance also drew condemnation from political opponents of Ms. Liljeroth’s center-right Moderate Party, including one blogger who described the event as “a tax-funded party” for “left-wing members of the Stockholm cultural elite.”

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/swedish-culture-minister-refuses-to-resign-over-bizarre-photo-op/