The pictures from Kim K’s photoshoot for Paper magazine only came out a few days ago but have already taken the internet by storm. Unsurprisingly a lot of criticism has been thrown at Kim herself, with fellow celebrities criticising her nudity in light of her being a mother, or people photoshopping her poses into comical images. This is unsurprising, but still disappointing. While the criticism being levelled and Kim is unfair, at least one of the photos from the shoot merits it’s own critical analysis. This article gives a rundown of the history of racism behind the picture of Kim balancing a champagne glass on her buttocks. The photo, taken by Jean-Paul Goude is almost exactly the same as a picture he took and feature in a book called ‘Jungle Fever’, a racial slur. For comparison here are the pictures of Kim, and the original model Carolina Beaumont.
As the Grio article discusses, these images bear resemblance to the profile of Saartjie Baartman, an african woman who was the subject of freakshows due to the shape of her buttocks. According to this article from the New York Times in 2007, Baartman’s experiences are “a symbol of the alienation and degradations of colonization, lost children, exile, the expropriation of female labor and the sexual and economic exploitation of black women by men, white and black.” It’s pretty clear how by making these pictures mirror Barrtman’s figure, Goude ignores the pain of her experience as an othered object and grotesquely twists her image into one of glamour. Whatever your opinion of Kim Kardashian, and while her knowledge of the implications of this photoshoot remain unclear, I think the brunt of criticism for this photoshoot should be focussed on Goude and his choice to delegitimise the suffering of Barrtman through his recurring flippant portrayals of her figure.
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