Word: printed
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Lowell House's removal of the poster was certainly a sensitive response, and arguably the right one because, perhaps, the context in which the print was displayed was inappropriate. But it is more difficult to argue, as Hayes and others do, that the poster's content is racist, particularly without considering the identity of the artist...
...dining hall manager would not allow me to see the poster without proper authorization from the Assistant Director for House Dining, who was unlisted. Why, despite the fact that the print had been hanging in the dining hall every day for the last few years, has it now become a source of worry for those involved...
...wonder how Fritzner Alphonse, the artist who painted the original of which the Lowell House poster is a print, would feel that his work is now "off-limits." Who is Fritzner? It turns out that he is a Haitian folk artist who was born on July 18, 1938 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was leather tanner, like his father before him, until 1972, when at the age of 34 he painted his first tableau. He has been an artist ever since. Fritzner is part of a generation of Haitian artists to be influenced by the Centre d' Arte, which...
...possible that Fritzner's print was hanging in an inappropriate location, that it belongs in a museum rather than next to steaming tray of General Wong's Chicken. But this is not an obvious conclusion; so before the poster is branded "racist" and permanently removed from the dining hall, the issues should be debated. In what ways can this print be read? Was Lowell House too hasty in its decision to remove the poster? Would a plaque providing information about the artist and his history be enough to allay fears of racism? And the crux of the matter, is Lowell...
Perhaps the print of Fritzner's painting should have been removed long ago because a five dollar poster among the many valuable portraits of dead white men that adorn the Lowell House dining Hall is out of place. But the issue of appropriateness never had the chance to come up, because the print was removed too quickly. Fritzner Alphonse and those who appreciate his art deserve a fair hearing...