Ivanka Trump has responded to reports of an art exhibit in Washington where visitors throw crumbs at a lookalike model of her.
Photos of the exhibit went viral on Tuesday morning which showed the lookalike vacuuming piles of crumbs that had been thrown at her by guests of the Flashpoint Gallery in Washington.
Jennifer Rubell, the artist behind the installation, told news outlets the display was meant to explore “our relationship with Ivanka” while provoking a debate “our complicity in her role-playing.”
Ms Trump, the president's eldest daughter and White House senior adviser, tweeted a link to an article about the art exhibit on Tuesday morning with the following message: “Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up. I choose the latter.”
She was also swiftly defended by other members of the first family, including her brother, Eric Trump, who took to Fox News to lambast the Washington exhibit. “These leftists called up a modeling agency, saying 'you know what, I want to get a nice woman to come stand on a carpet, with a vacuum of all things, so that our people can throw food and crumbs to mimic a powerful woman who has done more for women than probably anyone in Washington, DC,” he said.
“Think about that hypocrisy,” he continued. “They label themselves the quote, unquote 'party of women,' yet they're throwing food, they're throwing garbage at a woman on a carpet holding a vacuum cleaner to mimic someone who really does care and who has fought so hard for women.“
The art exhibit, titled “Ivanka Vacuuming,” was presented in the capitol by CulturalDC, a nonprofit visual and performing arts venue.
In an interview with Refinery29, Ms Rubell defended the installation and said she wasn’t attempting to pass any judgement on the 37-year-old first daughter.
“Usually the qualities of feminism and femininity are seen in opposition,“ she said. “Most women clearly lean toward one side or the other in their self-presentation. Something very interesting about Ivanka — her clothing line, too — is that it seems the goal is to achieve both of these qualities as part of the conversation.”
“This is something women struggle with, and her conclusion is unusual and interesting,” she added.
The artist also defended the component of the exhibit in which visitors throw crumbs towards the model while she vacuums.
“First of all, people aren't throwing crumbs at her,“ Ms Rubell said. ”She's vacuuming them up from the carpet.
“It puts the viewer in a very complicated position,” she continued. “And I'm most interested in the complications of the viewer; how they decide to engage with this feminine figure. What does it mean to either throw crumbs, or stand there watching other people throwing crumbs?“
