I came across an article published on the Huffington
Post.com about a Kenyan-British female artist who revealed “the racism and microaggressions black women deal with on a
daily basis in an ingenious art project, appropriately titled “Stranger in the
Village”” and thought it was quite interesting and linked well to the
decolonisation-through-art discussions we have had in our recent tutorials and
lectures. Here’s the link if you are interested in having a read- I found it
really interesting and relevant, it says a lot in few words.
Her project is based on the societal
segregation she experienced and observed on an artist’s exchange to Sweden,
especially focusing on her experience as a young women of colour in a ‘white’
country on Tinder.
As stated in the article, some comments
she got on Tinder from men were:
-
“You’d be interested to
know there’s a really good reggae scene here.”
-
“It’s a huge fantasy of mine to be with a black
girl....it’s a compliment :)”
-
“Wild thing, you make my heart sing....your hair’s
cool, I wanna touch it”
-
“I love African women! You are so free with
your bodies!! :))))”
Phoebe used her Tinder
experience and expressed it in her art, emphasizing “that many of the messages
that black women (and other women of colour) do receive (on
Tinder and social media websites) are often tainted by racial stereotyping.”
But, her work goes beyond Sweden and beyond Tinder and online dating, and into
the ways that racism affect how black women are treated on a larger scale, around
the world.
I just thought it was
interest and quite clever how Phoebe Boswell used art as an outlet to discuss
her racial experiences and to open people’s eyes to the bigger picture and the
issue of racism and racial stereotyping that exists for women of colour (and other
people all across the world!). I feel like she has used her talent to deconstruct
some of these negative stereotypes, and has used her work as a device to encourage
decolonisation.
This blog post was really great! it linked in well to the theory we have been discussing in class and brought an extra and interesting element to it, so well done on that! I think that modern societies are extremely judgemental and this is amplified and worsened by online and media activities and agendas. New racism is definately not a happeneing thing in New Zealand in my opinion and to stereotype our population I would say that we are far too diverse to not become more multicultural. Right now we operate on a very monocultural and sometimes bicultural basis that can be extremely damaging to particular groups and creates racism and racial stereotypes towards people like you have mentioned in the video.
ReplyDeleteIn reading about her Tinder experiences it is shocking that societies have become so stereotypical and racist that one individual can say to another "Oh you blacks are all so free with your bodies". That is a terrible and inaccurate statement that unfortunately gets reproduced amongst particular cultures. How the hell do you know that just because she's African that she is free with her body and will have sex with you. Because after a comment like that I certainly would not be doing anything with that stereotypical person!
Anyway, it was great to read an article that aims to decolonise and teach about how harmful and hurtful these practices are. I mean it has become so embedded in our society that it is almost second nature and we do not even notice when we do it. However, that is no excuse! Again, well done on the post it really got me thinking.
Thank you for your post! You've reminded me of a growing social trend across the world, which is to use art as protest! Which, really, you have to figure, isn't actually all that new of an idea! Art has been used to tell people's stories... oh probably since cave paintings began. Songs, dances, paintings, sculptures... But this is slightly different, I think, because the rise of social media allows people to access pieces of art from around the world. For instance, there's an artist in the United States of America who is majorly concerned about Global Climate Change-- and so she goes to coastal towns and has local kids use a paint machine to draw the line of where the sea level will rise to if the land ice melts. That way, the community gets intimately involved and interested in the art project! Another neat example of art in protest is the My Brother's Keeper/My Sister's Keeper program held by Michigan State University jointly with Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, which gets elementary aged boys and girls together to make pieces of art they feel are important to display to the community, and also to experience pieces of art in Detroit to build community!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm always very impressed with the way that art is used to raise awareness, and I'm glad that pieces like the one you've described here are garnering attention!