Art Imitating Life?

The most recent issue of Vogue Italia features model Kristen McMenamy covered in oil draped around a polluted beach. The spread, shot in LA by Steven Meisel, is 24 pages and also includes images of McMenamy clutching her throat and coughing up oil. For obvious reasons, these sombre images have ignited controversy in the media. The shoot took place as a reaction to the recent BP oil spill, the ramifications of which the world is still suffering from. Many residents of the Gulf Coast, who have been affected most deeply, believe the spread to be insensitive, and think that Vogue Italia is capitalizing on the calamity to sell magazines. Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Franca Sozzi, claims the magazine did not intend to offend, but instead to send the message to be careful with nature. Features director Carlo Ducci goes further to say, "We can't be silent in this kind of situation and why shouldn't our interpretation be artistic?" I think the images are beautiful in an eerie sort of way, but is "the message" a bit rich coming from people who were probably pretty unaffected by the disaster? Or is the spread a grotesquely beautiful interpretation of art imitating life? I don't know, can't it be both?