Europa and the Bull

“Europa and The Bull” shows a bald headed man in black clothes and springer boots (right wing uniform). On a leash he has a white pitbull. On his left hand he holds a girl in a blue dress wearing a necklace with 12 golden stars (European flag). Violently dragged by him, she is doing the Hitler salute. The scene was built in remembrance of the mythology about “Europa and the Bull” (Zeus decided to seduce Europa. He transformed himself into a tame white bull. Europa liked the bull and mounted his back. Zeus ran to the sea and swam with her to Crete, revealed his identity and Europa became the queen of Crete.) I associate the story of Europe’s namesake with the actual political development where Neo-Nazis are newly forming groups. While believed dead, Nationalism, Racism and White Supremacy are now back in party politics and are threatening Europe as a peace project. Another quote that gave rise to this work you can see as a print on the hoodie “Destroy This Mad Brute”. In this 1917 US Propaganda poster, you see German Militarism personified by an ape wearing Pickelhaube (pointed headgear) and carrying a bloodstained club and a dishevelled woman. This motif is about the invasion of Belgium, aiming to recruit soldiers for the Entente. The essence for me was the club with the word „Kultur“, because racism often comes under the cloth of restoring traditions and home culture. The bloodstained club with the word „Kultur” (=culture) is for me like the racists´ argument against foreign people: “They are destroying our home culture because they are different.”