Stephen Okeke critical of poster distributed by Min. of Health
Stephen Okeke is best known for his work as a sculptor. His other titles include author and educator. Today he stopped by our studio in a new role; that of community activist. Okeke believes that there is a stigma attached to a poster designed and distributed by the Ministry of Health so he felt it necessary to share his thoughts.
Stephen Okeke, Community Activist
“My concern with the poster that this is a practice that has seem to become a culture where black people are misrepresented, especially black people are misrepresented and shown to be the face of disease. When it comes to rubella, when it comes to AIDS, when it comes to malaria, when it comes to communicable diseases, they are shown to be people who have inferior jeans that are susceptible to diseases. This is social politics and I think the time has come for it to stop. It’s a new world where individuals have the right to privacy, have the right to be represented with dignity and this poster is offensive and should be taken down.”
Jose Sanchez
“What do you see on the poster?”
Stephen Okeke
“The poster is that when you represent people like this, it’s the basic practice that you have to conceal the identity of the children, especially children; innocent children and even adults. But if you have to conceal the identity of some of the children and leave the other ones unprotected, something is very wrong with the picture. It’s unfair and I don’t think the representation is equitable.”
Jose Sanchez
“What do you want the ministry to do?”
Stephen Okeke
“The simple thing the ministry should do is to understand that this methods of representations, this unjustified aggression, psychological aggression and social humiliation is not deserved. The best and only best thing the ministry should do is to put out a statement condemning this or explaining this and secondly, bring down all the posters wherever they are. It takes simply a phone call to say bring down all these posters and print a poster that does not show blackness as the face of disease.”
