A mural of Marge Simpson showing the middle finger has appeared outside the Iranian consulate in Milan as part of a wave of protests following last month’s death in morality police custody of a 22-year-old Iranian woman stopped for not wearing the hijab properly.
The street artist, AleXsandro Palombo, said it was a way of keeping attention up on Mahsa Amini’s death amid a brutal crackdown in Iran that has left scores killed.
“Keeping attention alive on this dramatic event is of vital importance because it is the only way we have to strongly support young Iranians,” said Palombo, who had previously put up a mural of the cartoon character cutting her hair in imitation of Iranian women’s protests.
That first mural was erased in less than 24 hours, but it spread like wildfire on social media.
The new work, entitled ‘The Cut 2’, appeared in Viale Monte Rosa in the Lombard capital on Tuesday morning.
The new work, like the original, features Marge Simpson, clutching her shorn blue hair in her right hand, a pair of scissors in the other. However this time, Palombo has replaced her pained facial expression with one of anger ― the iconic cartoon character now defiantly flipping the bird to passersby.
