German Artist Receives Death Threats After Center-Right Politicians Denounce Work About Children

Artist Sophia Süßmilch told the German media that she had received death threats after her exhibition at the Kunsthalle Osnabrück became the subject of controversy among center-right politicians.

Süßmilch’s show features sculptures, performances, textile pieces, videos, and photographs that are intended as revisionist takes on the “Three Little Pigs” fairy tale. One performance in the show features music with lyrics written by Süßmilch that are sung from the point of view of cannibals who prey on children while also seeking to protect these kids within their stomachs.

“Fairy tales make a clear distinction between good and evil. They are supposed to teach us how to behave good and right,” a description for the show notes. “But this exhibition shows that it’s not that simple. Who actually decides what is good and right?” Another component of the exhibition, according to its description, is an investigation into a state in which “people with wombs” decline to merely be “birthing machines.”

That description notes that the performance and its related exhibition deal with “topics that can provoke strong emotions and memories, such as domestic violence, miscarriages and childlessness,” and that neither the work nor the show are recommended for children under 16.

The show, part of a larger series of programs at the museum focusing on similar themes, was decried by certain members of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, a center-right party.

Marius Keite, a CDU politician from Osnabrück, told TAZ that he was disturbed that “such grotesque and disturbing depictions are shown publicly under the guise of art.” He and other CDU politicians began calling for a boycott for the Kunsthalle Osnabrück.

Monopol reported on Wednesday that Süßmilch had begun receiving death threats in response, something that the publication said it confirmed with the Kunsthalle Osnabrück itself.

According to Monopol, the artist told a German radio station that CDU politicians had called for a ban on her performance because it tackled bodily autonomy for people who can carry children. “I think that is very difficult for the CDU; they feel very threatened by it,” she said.