An artist who uses fruit to create sensual imagery has accused Miley Cyrus of ripping off her artwork in the promotional video for her upcoming album She Is Miley Cyrus. The video was part of the promotion for Cyrus’ recently released EP “She Is Coming,” according to BuzzFeed News.
Cyrus dropped the promo on Instagram on Wednesday, featuring clips of various fruits being fingered in an erotic way.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByQxmW9gtRN/
It’s undeniably similar to the work of Stephanie Sarley, whose artistic practice is based on fingering different fruits—from peaches to blood orange to melons—to mimic pornographic images. In 2016, Madeline Gobbo wrote for the Daily Dot of Sarley’s work:
It’s unaccountably hot, but it also has a soothing quality reminiscent of ASMR videos, or the scene in Amélie where the heroine dips her hand into a barrel of beans. Watching Sarley’s fingers, a viewer cannot help but imagine that touch on their flesh.
Neither the description nor Cyrus’ video, which is only a few seconds long, credits Sarley for the concept.
“The comments were flooding into my Instagram feed by the second right after she posted the video,” Sarley told the Daily Dot via email. “Noticing the exact similarity, people are outraged. I have also received hundreds of [direct messages] and stories calling her out.”
Sarley is a freelance artist based in Berkeley, California, who works in licensing and production in the entertainment industry. She says Cyrus has “completely ripped me off.”
She said no one from Cyrus’ team reached out to her prior to the promotion being posted. So far, she’s vocalized her concern through her fans and the media, such as the BuzzFeed report.
“It is my fans and the public that first vocalized the outrage that I’ve responded to, and it’s Miley Cyrus that has implicated me into this,” Sarley said.
Her work is often interpreted as political commentary, as well. Her video of a mushroom’s tip—widely reflective of the glans penis—being cut off was an instant hit when it dropped the week that saw a massive sweep of restrictive abortion bans across the U.S.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxjFh5iHUgs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Sarley told the Daily Dot no one from Cyrus’ team has reached out even after her accusations were reported in the media.
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