A controversial photo spread depicting several famous female writers at the moment of their suicides was pulled Tuesday morning by Vice, with the editors of the magazine issuing an apology “to anyone who was hurt or offended.”
The photo spread, titled “Last Words,” featured several models in highly stylized settings, each portraying a writer committing sucide. One shot included a model holding a hankerchief to her nose, meant to represent Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s death from chloroform. Amid considerable public backlash, the photospread was taken down on Tuesday. Visitors to the page were met with this message:
Eventually, the error message was replaced with a statement from Vice’s editors.
”The fashion spreads in VICE Magazine are always unconventional and approached with an art editorial point-of-view rather than a typical fashion photo-editorial one,” the editors said in the statement. “Our main goal is to create artful images, with the fashion message following, rather than leading. ’Last Words’ was created in this tradition and focused on the demise of a set of writers whose lives we very much wish weren’t cut tragically short, especially at their own hands. We will no longer display ‘Last Words’ on our website and apologize to anyone who was hurt or offended.”
The photos from the spread can be seen at Jezebel.
