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| The Swing by Yinka Shonibare |
What is "authentic"art? that was one of the questions asked in my group. It really made me think about how what we perceive as "authentic" is the traditional African art. So if we went to Africa what kind of art would they consider "authentic" of us. Another dilemma that comes up is how we think that because they're African that naturally they should create African art. I was reading the article "Yinka Shonibare: Hedonism, masquerade, Carnivalesque, and Power" and this section really caught my attention it says, “I think it was during my art school education that I realized I was not going to be allowed to be a universal, anonymous artist, if there is such a thing; but that was my utopian view. It was quite a revelation because I realized that regardless of my internal thoughts, the way I was perceived on the outside was different. I also realized that I was in a double bind. If I made work about being black, I would be considered simply an artist who made work about blackness; if I did not make work about being black, people would speak of me as a black artist who did not make work about blackness.” So basically because he's an African artist, people expect him to make the "authentic traditional art" that we think of when we think about Africa.
In the Olu Oguibe article I read that, “Until recently works of classical African arts were dutifully attributed to the “tribe”, rather than to the individual artist, thus effectively erasing the latter from the narrative spaces of art history.” I think that's very sad to create something and then to have people recognize it as artwork created by a specific people group. Denying the identities of artists in being identified with the collective, anonymous production pattern that inscribes primitivism. So the questions I have are: What is "Authentic" art? and the general question of Why? Why shouldn’t African artists be able to make any art they want? Why do people expect them to make strictly "traditional" African art? Why are African artists not being recognized individually for the art they create?
Bethany <><
I feel like there is no defined definition for what is authentic. It's kind of like trying to answer what is normal? Everyone has their own view on what normal is. Just kind of like authentic. I feel everyone has their own idea of what is consider authentic. But I do have to agree with you, that African people should be allowed to make whatever art they want, traditional or non-tradition. I feel they should do whatever inspires them or has influenced them. It makes sense for them to do only art that influences them, so it becomes meaningful to them.
ReplyDeleteI like that you ask the question that turns it around: "What kind of art would [non-Americans] consider "authentic" of us?"
ReplyDeleteI like the question you ask when you wonder what kind of art work would African people consider to be "authentic" of us. I think that that is a great question that I have never really thought about. I also agree that it is so sad that African artists are not always recognized individually for the art that they produce.
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