Cultural appropriation is a term that has become more common in recent times. A growing awareness of what it means to "borrow" aspects of another culture, and the negative implications of this has led to an increased dialogue about this issue.
Cultural appropriation in art is a longstanding occurrence. Today we look at The Craft Factor from Winter 1993/Spring 1994 and a very interesting article by Allison Muri about appropriation in art.
Muri discusses the complexities surrounding appropriated art, from benign intentions to damaging results:
Reasons for cultural appropriation vary, and unfortunately in some cases it just comes down to money:
So, as Muri says, the question remains: what is the artist's responsibility?
Read the full article here
Cultural appropriation has happening for centuries. It's only recently that we have a trendy name for it.
ReplyDeleteCultural appropriation has been happening for centuries, and so has racism, banning of cultural customs, microaggressions and misogyny. Having new terms for old oppressions doesn't make them "trendy," it makes them relevant and gives those who are marginalized a word to describe the terrible wrongs that are done them.
ReplyDeleteIt's not "trendy" to be oppressed.