PARIS, July 15 (Reuters) – A postage stamp depicting
France’s cultural symbol Marianne has touched off a flurry of
controversy after one of its creators revealed it was inspired
by a topless feminist activist who hacked down a Christian cross
in Kiev last year with a chainsaw.
The new stamp depicts a youthful Marianne, a symbol of the
French republic, wearing a Phrygian conical cap but does not
show her topless. It was unveiled by President Francois Hollande
on Sunday as part of Bastille Day celebrations.
Photographer and designer Olivier Ciappa said on his Twitter
account that he was inspired by a number of women but most of
all by Inna Shevchenko, a veteran member of the Femen group of
feminist activists, which often stages bare-breasted protests.
“Feminism is an integral part of the values (of the French
Republic). And Marianne, at the time of the revolution, was
bare-breasted, so why not pay homage to this fabulous Femen,” he
said in an op-ed piece on the Huffington Post website.
Ciappa’s comments triggered many reactions – for and against
– on Twitter and Facebook. The small right-wing Christian
Democrat party called for a boycott of the stamp, which will be
used for sending letters throughout the country.
Ukrainian activist Shevchenko, who welcomed the news with a
provocative message on her Twitter account, announced last week
that she had been granted asylum in France.
The new stamp design was chosen by high-school students.
In 1830, painter Eugene Delacroix depicted a bare-breasted
Marianne brandishing a tricolour flag and leading her people
over the bodies of the fallen in his famous painting “Liberty
Leading the People”.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Marinne Pennetier)
