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Art Exhibit Cancelled. Deemed to be Cultural Appropriation


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https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/01/leslieville-exhibition-cancelled-after-toronto-artists-work-called-cultural-appropriation.html

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The cancellation of a Toronto artist’s exhibition has sparked a dialogue about what indigenous art is and who can create it.

Toronto artist Amanda PL, 29, says her work is inspired by the Woodland school of art and acknowledges that it’s “very similar” to Anishnaabe artist Norval Morrisseau’s work, which features bright colours separated by black lines and abstract figures.

But after Amanda PL’s planned exhibition at Visions Gallery in Leslieville was announced she discovered many people were “troubled” by her work.

“From my point of view, authentic indigenous art comes from a place of our experiences, our personal narratives,” said Chief Lady Bird (Nancy King) an Anishnaabe artist based in Toronto.

“The thing about the type of work that she’s creating is it’s heavily rooted in traditional ideals and different teachings and it’s considered sacred, so it wasn’t always even considered artwork in the way that we think about art now,” she said.

Tony Magee, a co-owner of Visions Gallery, where Amanda PL’s work was set to be exhibited later this month, said following the announcement the gallery was “immediately criticized” and within 24 hours the event was cancelled.

 

I wonder if this idea that people of other cultures can't use some of their own cultures in their forms of expression will ever seep into food. Like when WASPs open a Taco Stand or make a mean Jerk Chicken. 

Would White people adopting Hip Hop music be seen as racist by this same philosophy? As a Caucasian of Jamaican Heritage, I always have to be mindful of this balancing act. 

It's weird that people of certain cultures want their cultural practices to be a silo and an identity of their own.

But when the principals of Multiculturalism are put into practice Cultural Appropriation is unavoidable. You can't allow cultures to mingle and spread but get mad when other cultures embrace the aspect of your cultures they like. Can't have it both ways, we're either separate or together. 

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I agree. Anyone on the planet can put on a clan tartan kilt and play the bagpipes badly but the Scots don't get upset. Who isn't Irish on St. Paddies day? 

You would think people would be flattered when others try and adopt parts of their culture, as long as they don't try to pass it off as something it isn't.

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2 hours ago, Boges said:

As a Caucasian of Jamaican Heritage, I always have to be mindful of this balancing act. 

No, you really don't, unless you're in some highly public-facing career or expect to be so in the future. The people who would get offended are idiots who don't matter.

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It's weird that people of certain cultures want their cultural practices to be a silo and an identity of their own.

They generally don't. It's mostly activists, who tend to be SJW white savior types who think they know what's best for everyone else. Sometimes they can rile up some protesters to make it seem like there's people that care. But normal people don't care about cultural appropriation, they have lives to live. 

Edited by Bonam
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9 minutes ago, Bonam said:

No, you really don't, unless you're in some highly public-facing career or expect to be so in the future. The people who would get offended are idiots who don't matter.

They generally don't. It's mostly activists, who tend to be SJW white savior types who think they know what's best for everyone else. Sometimes they can rile up some protesters to make it seem like there's people that care. But normal people don't care about cultural appropriation, they have lives to live. 

In the OP the lady doing the art definitely had FN people offended. I think most cultural appropriation stories come from the FN. 

Edited by Boges
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3 minutes ago, Boges said:

In the OP the lady doing the art definitely had FN people offended by her art. I think most cultural appropriation stories come from the FN. 

Maybe in Canada. Although in the US it's different. This kind of identity politics crap is why Trump came to office, why Brexit passed, and why Marie Le Pen is in the final round to be president of France. Oh it's not the only factor, but it makes people dismiss everything coming from the Left as politically correct garbage. And it might have been some natives that protested but I bet it was some white people at the gallery who cancelled the exhibit.

Edited by Argus
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43 minutes ago, Argus said:

 And it might have been some natives that protested but I bet it was some white people at the gallery who cancelled the exhibit.

And very likely went to the natives and got them riled up about it, as well. 

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2 hours ago, Omni said:

Yeah but I don't want anyone else playing those beloved bagpipes. At least not within a hundred miles of my ears. And I have a lot of Scottish blood in me. But I'll be happy to share that bottle of single malt with ya.

I'm the opposite. The Tattoo has been on my bucket list for years and I was in that crowd on one of those nights. It exceeded expectations.

 

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6 hours ago, Bonam said:

They generally don't. It's mostly activists, who tend to be SJW white savior types who think they know what's best for everyone else. Sometimes they can rile up some protesters to make it seem like there's people that care. But normal people don't care about cultural appropriation, they have lives to live. 

Today's activists who are most powerful aren't white progressives anyways, they're people of colour progressives.  They have the moral high ground because if you call them out or tell them they're wrong, you're labelled a racist. Like Black Lives Matter Toronto stopping the Pride parade with demands.

A single complaint today has a lot of power because politicians and businesses want desperately to avoid any negative publicity over these types of things, so it's better for them to just cave.

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7 hours ago, Wilber said:

I agree. Anyone on the planet can put on a clan tartan kilt and play the bagpipes badly but the Scots don't get upset. Who isn't Irish on St. Paddies day? 

You would think people would be flattered when others try and adopt parts of their culture, as long as they don't try to pass it off as something it isn't.

The difference is that the Scots aren't an oppressed minority, as they say.

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10 hours ago, Boges said:

 

I wonder if this idea that people of other cultures can't use some of their own cultures in their forms of expression will ever seep into food. Like when WASPs open a Taco Stand or make a mean Jerk Chicken.

From here on, England shall abandon curry and return to lumpy gravy and bangers and mash.

On a related note, white people shall abandon rock music and return to Big Band.

 -k

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1 hour ago, Moonlight Graham said:

They have the moral high ground because if you call them out or tell them they're wrong, you're labelled a racist. Like Black Lives Matter Toronto stopping the Pride parade with demands. 

Just trying to parse this out.

Some people think they have the moral high ground and will call you a racist... this is a criticism of individuals who have opinions on things but doesn't say anything about the larger question which is the relevant matter here.  

"People will call you racist" ... maybe they're right, maybe not... 

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22 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

Just trying to parse this out.

Some people think they have the moral high ground and will call you a racist... this is a criticism of individuals who have opinions on things but doesn't say anything about the larger question which is the relevant matter here.  

"People will call you racist" ... maybe they're right, maybe not... 

It doesn't really matter if they're right or not, they still do it and still succeed either way.  And yes, sometimes they are indeed right and sometimes not, at least IMO.

The key is the fear by politicians/governments/businesses/individuals etc of being labeled as racist (or sexist, LGBT-phobic etc).  Nobody ever wants that, horrible rep/PR to have.  Activists have (smartly) taken advantage of this, and their demands continue to increase in frequency and boldness.

It's a war of ideas, and the left has been winning, but the right has started to fight back (Brexit, Trump etc).  This isn't ending any time soon, & it's going to be ugly.

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1 hour ago, Moonlight Graham said:

It doesn't really matter if they're right or not, they still do it and still succeed either way.  And yes, sometimes they are indeed right and sometimes not, at least IMO.

The key is the fear by politicians/governments/businesses/individuals etc of being labeled as racist (or sexist, LGBT-phobic etc).  Nobody ever wants that, horrible rep/PR to have.  Activists have (smartly) taken advantage of this, and their demands continue to increase in frequency and boldness.

It's a war of ideas, and the left has been winning, but the right has started to fight back (Brexit, Trump etc).  This isn't ending any time soon, & it's going to be ugly.

I think 10-20 years ago, if someone was accused of being racist by some mainstream media source, it was a big deal. Today, it's just shrugged off by many people as more alarmism, namecalling, bullshit, and fake news. Which is why the millions of times that Trump was called racist, sexist, bigoted, etc, didn't hurt his election. The left you talk about is spiraling deeper and deeper into its own vortex of ever more bizarre theories rooted in issues of group identity. The right of course has many other issues which I also deeply disagree with (science aversion, religiosity, security theatre, etc). 

5 years ago if you asked me which side puts me off more in America, I would have said the right... the tendency towards theocracy in particular is especially offensive to me. But today, even with how horrible and essentially evil the Republican party is, I think the left puts me off more. The worst ideas of Republicans seem so obviously flawed that a mere moment of cooler heads prevailing would see such policies stopped or rolled back. On the other hand, the worst ideas from the left are part of a broad-based cultural outlook that inherently dis-empowers opponents, silences criticism, punishes non-conformity, and calls upon all of its followers to quash dissent and sees quashing dissent as a virtue.

I don't know quite what the right "-ism" word is for where the left is going - this odd mixture of group identity politics, preference for groups rights and group justice over individual rights and individual justice, disagreement-silencing, embrace of emotion over objectivity, disregard for economic reality, and self-loathing of its own history and civilization. Whatever word history will come to use to describe this set of beliefs which are coalescing from the left wing into some kind of ideological movement in the early 21st century... I think it is as dangerous and inherently evil as communism or fascism were in the 20th century. 

Edited by Bonam
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1 hour ago, Moonlight Graham said:

It's a war of ideas

Indeed. I've been thinking a lot about this lately. The 20th century was dominated by a battle between ideas as well. It was essentially classical liberalism against authoritarianism (which came in the flavors of communism and fascism).

In the 21st century, communism and fascism are pretty much behind us (China isn't communist in any meaningful sense of the word any more). Also, classical liberalism has largely lost its conviction. So now in the world I see a few ideas shaping things:

- religious resurgence / extremism: this applies to the rise of extremist/political Islam, as well as religious resurgence in America. 

- "leftism" as described in my post above: it's not the leftism of the 20th century, not communism or socialism though it takes some things from both. It's got elements of collectivism and racism too. But whatever we call it, it is an increasingly powerful ideological movement in Western countries especially among the younger generations and in urban centers. 

- classical liberalism: it largely won out over all competitors in the 20th century, but now seems to be running out of steam. In Western countries which are the home of this set of ideas, they now find few strong advocates anywhere on the political spectrum. Still, it for now has a lot of influence just by inertia and because a lot of institutions are built on it as a foundation. 

I'm probably missing a few more... 

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