The Department of the Investigative Committee for Dagestan announced beginning of verificationbecause of the graduation show of a student of the Dagestan Art College, who brought models with crosses to the defile.
The defense of the final work of the clothing design department took place last week. The show featured Christian symbolism, with several models wearing crosses on their backs and a barbed wire halo. The video from the show on June 25 was posted by the public “Tut Dagestan”.
“With such creativity, enemies with lgbt propaganda are not needed! <…> The West is rotting because of such ugly art “we don’t stop children from creating,” wrote State Duma deputy from the region Sultan Khamzaev about the images.
The Ministry of Culture of Dagestan held a meeting with representatives of the school, the muftiate and the Russian Orthodox Church, it was also attended by the director of the local network of fight clubs. “The guys really made a mistake by using symbols in the performance that are sacred to the Dagestan and Russian people. Perhaps they did not intend to laugh. Especially fashion designers, who always look to the West, where it is quite acceptable,” said the secretary of the local diocese of Silwan.
After that, the director of the school, Mukhtar Kambulatov, was reprimanded. loading» data-instgrm-version=»14″ style=» background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% — 2px) ; width:calc(100% — 2px);»>View this post on Instagram
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College leadership supported the graduate. “We didn't want to offend anyone for a second,” said teacher Madina Aliyeva. – The student depicted in her thesis the ephemeral spirit that overcomes the artist. We never once thought of anything provocative or wrong. It's a theatrical costume.»
The school's website also clarified that the show was a «discourse» about designer Alexander McQueen, who «passed away on the crest of success, being the most famous and best-selling.» So, a similar red and black palette and red lipstick going beyond the contour of the lips were in McQueen’s penultimate lifetime collection “Cornucopia”, and bandaged heads were in his Voss collection dedicated to mental health problems.
Another source of inspiration for the student was the outfits from Federico Fellini's film «Juliet and the Spirits».
The central image of the show with a red cross and a whitened face could also be inspired by the angel Lilith from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. In the anime, Lilith is a humanoid creature with a white body that is kept crucified on a huge red cross. There are dozens of references to Christianity and Scripture in Neon Genesis Evangelion.