1/19/2004: Swedish art provokes Israeli ambassador

[Chewbaccus]

The other artist, Feiler's Swedish wife Gunilla Skoeld Feiler, told daily Expressen that the work was "not a glorification of the suicide bomber."

"I wanted to show how incomprehensible it is that a mother-of-two, who is a lawyer no less, can do such a thing," she said.

"When I saw her picture in the paper, I thought she looked like Snow White, that's why I gave that name to the piece," she added.

I get what she's trying to do - setting the bright white of the photo, the woman's face, and the boat (the woman's prior life) against the blood-red of the water (the action, which will define the woman among the public and history from now on) and using the stark contrast to generate a sense of unreality, of incomprehensibility.

But, just because I get it doesn't mean I really like it. Call it one of my slivers of conservatism, but I'm just of the mind that art shouldn't have high and low tide.