Norwegian-Danish artist Nina Maria Kleivan ditched the baby bonnet and rattle and opted for a mustache and swastika for a photograph of her infant daughter. She depicted the baby as Adolf Hitler as part of a photo exhibit on the nature of evil.
"We all have evil within us. Even small children are evil towards each other," Kleivan tells Israel's Haaretz newspaper. "Even my daughter could end up ruling Denmark with an iron fist. The possibility is still there."
Kleivan said she was inspired to begin sewing infant-sized costumes soon after the birth of her daughter, who is now 11 years old. She said complications from her pregnancy had left her and the baby sitting at home. Looking at her daughter, she recalled, she considered that each human life begins as a blank slate, with opportunity to do good or evil.
Nina Maria Kleivan
When Nina Maria Kleivan's daughter was an infant, she dressed her as Adolf Hitler, left, and former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin for a work on the nature of evil. Her point? "We all have evil within us," Kleivan told Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.
Other depictions of the girl include Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. (You can see more of Kleivan's work at her Web site.)
"Nobody reacts to any picture other than the one of 'mini-Hitler,'" Kleivan told Haaretz. "Even though my generation doesn't speak out about the war, silently our cultural circle sees Hitler as evil incarnate. ...
"You need to be conscious that your actions have consequences that impact on your fellow human beings," Kleivan said. "You can't throw it away -- as a parent, as human beings -- and say that you just followed orders."
And so Kleivan toiled on what would become an exhibit called "Potency," stitching mini military fatigues and even affixing mock mustaches to her daughter's face for Hitler, Saddam and Stalin.
Nina Maria Kleivan
Here, Kleivan's daughter is dressed as Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, left, and Chinese leader Mao Zedong. The photos are part of an exhibit called "Potency."
Her husband was supportive -- until he spotted a tiny swastika armband.
"'I'm aware that you're an artist, but this is wrong,' he told me," Kleivan recalled him saying. "I've pondered that a lot myself: Could I really do this? I agree it's on the verge, especially Hitler, whom I and most others view as the incarnation of evil. He and Stalin were the hardest to do. It hurt."
She admitted that it was difficult explaining the work to her Jewish aunt, who lost much of her family in World War II concentration camps and saw the photos at an exhibition in Sweden.
"I felt so bad telling her it was my work, because she didn't know, and was sickened by it," Kleivan told Haaretz. "But this is not a deliberate provocation. It calls for reflection. Even though comical, you're not supposed to only laugh at these pictures. You need to contemplate them, ponder where this evil comes from."
Nina Maria Kleivan
And here, Kleivan's daughter appears as Russian leader Josef Stalin, left, and Chile's Augusto Pinochet. The artist said her husband supported the project until he saw the swastika armband in their baby's Hitler costume. "I agree it's on the verge, especially Hitler... He and Stalin were the hardest to do. It hurt," Kleivan said.
Though many observers will not be laughing, they may take comfort in knowing that Kleivan's daughter is no longer dressing in dictator's clothing. Her mother reports she shows "remarkable talent" for the violin.
Her name?
Faustina, the feminine version of the doctor who made a deal with the devil to sell his soul for knowledge in the German legend.
