Latina Artist's Mural Causes Stir in Times Square

Sofia Maldonado's Times Square mural has caused quite a stir. Some say it is offensive. Others, like Keysha Whitaker of Single Women Rule, think Black folks need to take a chill pillI am sick and tired of black folks protesting stuff they have no business protesting. Suggested Reading Must-Read Juneteenth Books for the Entire Family…

Sofia Maldonado's Times Square mural has caused quite a stir. Some say it is offensive. Others, like Keysha Whitaker of Single Women Rule, think Black folks need to take a chill pill

I am sick and tired of black folks protesting stuff they have no business protesting.

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The object of my latest disgust is a fledgling uprising against Puerto Rican/Cuban artist Sofia Maldonado, a 26-year old Brooklyn resident. Maldonado painted a 92-foot mural that is located at 215 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan.

Organized primarily by the β€œUrban Community Council” and a Meetup Group β€œNew York City Black Professionals”, the protest claims that Maldonado’s mural negatively portrays Black and Latino women. Anthony Herbert, the founder of the Urban Community Council, a β€œsocial organization” that works to find funds for families of gun violence victims, held a press conference on March 11.

β€œThe way the women are depicted, it is clearly very disrespectful. They are scantily clad and it is disrespectful to any upstanding women in the community. It’s a negative representation of what we in our community are trying to avoid,” said Herbert. β€œWe have to shed a positive light. They’re [women in the mural] bent over, the implication that their breasts are coming out, it’s just ridiculous.”

Alberto Magnan is the owner of Magnan Metz Gallery and has been representing Maldonado since 2005. β€œSofia has done many murals in Puerto Rico, New York, and Connecticut, some in neighborhoods that were very Puerto Rican, Latin or black,” said Magnan. β€œWe’ve never had any reaction like this before; in fact people have always loved it.”

Magnan said Maldonado calls the women in her mural β€œSupergirls” and speculates that Herbert β€œmay not know what Sofia is about.”

Continue reading from the SOURCE: SINGLE WOMEN RULE

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