Art and Culture, a Tightrope

Ancestry 2012 a native inspired work possibly my mother's favorite piece of my art with a bear skin - thunderbird - feather on a pumpkin orange backgrounds 

This is a hard post for me to write and it has been floating around in my head for over a month now. 

Often it is so easy as humans to decide what is right and what is wrong. As artist we are often expected to push the boundaries, explore and find ourselves. But what happens when an artist finds themselves somewhere that has been deemed wrong by ourselves or others?

When it comes to appropriating art from other culture there are differing ideas on what counts as appropriation and what is right and wrong. I love the easy answers in life and would be happy to share them on this one but I am still trying to figure it out. 

Created fall 2012  I never even named this beyond May 2013 because I did not think of it as art, just an image for Vesak

I stumbled into this controversy when making calendars and trying to be inclusive of multicultural holidays. I remember a Thai friend looking at this Vesak http://www.buddhanet.net/vesak.htm piece and asking some questions but I got the distinct feeling that I had done something wrong. I had read about Vesak and looked at images to get inspiration and I had tried to make my piece look like I was staying in my style of intellectual artistic exploration and intuition. I use to think of myself as kind of an artistic sociologist/anthropologist, constantly learning and exploring.

The pieces of art that always made me afraid to share were the ones with native themes. Although my grandfather, great uncle and great grandfather were connected to their Navajo community I was raised away from my roots. No one taught me the way to follow the traditions, the stories or how to make art. I refused to use Thanksgiving imagery as my November calendar art and was hoping to make a statement with my native inspired images. 

Still I felt guilty for the images I used because I felt no rights to something I only understood intellectually. This is why I call the relationship between art and culture a Tight Rope.

Fall 2013 NGUZO SABA (The 7 Principles of Kwanzaa) I wanted to make a Kwanzaa piece that reflected my growing dedication to displaying multi-ethnic families and the diversity of connections within communities.

I was thrown when I had managed to get my first coffee shop display in January and February and I was asked to take it down early for "real black art". I was actually OK with taking my art down early as a calendar artist who recognized the significance of Black History month. I felt struck in the gut by the words it felt like I was being told I had done something wrong by creating my art. My Kwanzza piece above is based off of folks I have known and and my love of how many Portlanders make Kwanzza a big party. So this art felt very "real" to me and I acknowledge that I am only connected to the African American community through various relationships through out my life. 

More painful and confusing for me was thinking I was possibly being judged as selfish, ignorant or arrogant for taking space in February. Originally I was so excited for the opportunity that I did not think about the months. I just wanted a chance to get my unique works into the world. 

Because of my nature of questioning myself I went straight into feeling conflicted. I wanted to support Black History Month but I did not want to admit to doing something wrong by taking space with my art which was not just about my cultural experience. I of course gave the last week over but never talked about how painful the experience had been for me.

2013 Abulo de mis Suenos (The Grandfather of my Dreams) The new way of my multicultural art has been to rely on the visions that come to me.

I have started feeling more confident about my subject matter since I have been really listening to the paper and paying attention to my visions. I know I come from a highly assimilated to mainstream experience but somehow I also know the visions are part of my connection to my ancestors. Somehow when my art comes from such an intuitive place I just assume it can't be wrong.

2014 Madre Tierra (Earth Mother) A very pregnant native woman sitting in a leaf inspired by a vision

When I see a Japanese woman who is a butterfly in a kimono I don't worry I just create.

2013 M. Butterfly bridging east with west and the old tradition of Kabuki with the more modern opera of M. Butterfly.

I don't know the rights or wrongs of creating art outside of your cultural experience but I think it is something to think about. I would be curious to know your thoughts.