A graffiti piece depicting a trans* woman and painted as part of an art festival recently held in the capital city of Baku, has been removed days after it was decried as unwanted.
Karolina Falkolt, the Swedish artist known with her extraordinary nude artworks, painted the trans* graffiti on a wall of an abandoned factory in Baku for a piece intended to be part of an art festival held on Sept. 18 entitled “Being A Woman".
In a country that has been recently indexed as the worst place to be LGBTQI+ in Europe, the graffiti caught the attention of dozens of guests visiting the festival and caused discussions on social media.
Complaints from residents of the surrounding area were indicated as the main reason for the graffiti's removal.
Although already covered with light blue painting, young people continue to come and to see the graffiti at the site.
Most of them reportedly were upset they weren't able to see the original piece.
Sabina Shikhlinskaya, organizer and curator of the festival, told local journalists that residents living in the area complained about the graffiti to the police and therefore the graffiti has been removed.
Although the residents Meydan TV reached out to said that even though the graffiti disturbed them, they had not filed any kind of complaint with the police. She has also added that the Swedish embassy and the author of the graffiti accepted this move with understanding.
The author of the graffiti has previously been asked to cover the parts that caused residents' anger but she refused to do so, stating that she would not censor herself.
Shikhlinskaya reported that the graffiti has been destroyed by relevant authorities. Neither the police nor the neighborhood's executive authorities responded to Meydan TV’s request for a statement.
