Slavery-Themed Bathroom

About

Slavery-Themed Bathroom refers to a viral video in which designer and artist Hannah Polskin showcases a bathroom that she decorated with pieces of African art and a toilet paper holder resembling a chain, which some viewers interpreted as a slavery-themed bathroom. The video was deleted as it went viral on TikTok and other social media sites in late November 2023, inspiring largely negative reactions towards the decorations. Within a week of posting the video, Polskin did not respond to the accusations of theming the bathroom after slavery.

Origin

On or shortly prior to November 27th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @hannahpolskinstudio, a designer and artist, posted a video captioned "one thing about me is I will focus on the details" in which she decorates a bathroom with various pieces of African artwork. Among the artwork is a toilet paper roll holder that resembles a thick pair of chains. The video was deleted sometime shortly after and a full reupload has not been found.

On that day, TikToker^[2] @jpgeez posted a video questioning the design of the bathroom, particularly focusing on the chain toilet roll holder, asking if it's Polskin's bathroom and garnering over a million views in a week. In the video, he suggests the rest of the artwork in the bathroom is fine, but the chain holder along with the African artwork draws a comparison to slavery.

Spread

The video inspired further reactions over the following week, with many sharing outrage over the toilet paper holder and deeming the bathroom "slavery-themed." For example, on November 27th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @cyberexboyfriend posted a video reacting negatively to the bathroom, garnering over 160,000 views in a week (shown below, left).

On November 28th, TikToker^[4] @dejatwo posted a similar reaction, garnering over 2.6 million views in six days (shown below, right).

On December 1st, X^[5] user @seangarrette shared a video reacting to the bathroom, writing, "Have y’all seen this? I’m actually appalled. A slavery themed bathroom?" garnering over 700 likes in three days. On the same day, TikToker^[6] @sarahbearaahh posted a shocked reaction to the video, garnering over 4.7 million views in three days (shown below). On December 2nd, Dexerto^[7] then reported on the video.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References