An Australian designer created swimsuits bearing the image of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi. In response, the Hindu organization of Shiv Sena burned an Australian flag. Now, while I think the burning of an Australian flag in response to the actions of a single designer is a bit much, I also think this is a great opportunity to talk about cultural appropriation.
Historically, European cultures were colonizers to many Asian, American, and African native cultures. During colonization, it was common for people to take artifacts from the "other" culture and display them in their homes as oddities. But while the art and clothing might be interesting to see, the culture itself was seen as inferior, I mean, how much respect can you have for a culture if you feel the need to march in and replace it with your own? Factor in religion and it gets even more complicated.
A few years ago, Gwen Stefani wore a shirt in her Luxurious music video that had an image of the Virgen de Guadalupe, which had been cut in half to reveal more cleavage.
The Virgen de Guadalupe is of huge cultural and religious significance to Mexican Catholics. The artwork depicting the Virgen is usually very visually striking, I can understand that people would be able to appreciate it as art period. However, the fact remains that this is a very revered religious icon and it seemed pretty clear that she hadn't bothered to understand its significance at all. It's like wearing a "Latina" or "Indian" costume on Halloween: is it really a homage to a culture or are you using its "otherness" to seem edgy? To make a statement for yourself?
My suggestion: if you feel inspired by a culture, maybe you should stick to using authentic prints and textiles. And probably stay away from religious iconography.
Image Source: The Telegraph
I'ma keep it real. I'm still a little offended at Gwen wearing the shirt with La Virgen on it, especially when she made it so vulgar. I definitely think people should be more sensitive about religion and stop wearing any religious images or anything on clothing etc...
ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest, I really don't know where I stand on this. As a religious person I agree that religious iconography is sacred and should probably be left alone out of respect to the people/culture is belongs to. But then I think about other instances in which religious figures were depicted (South Park depicted the prophet Mohammed) and people were offended. I personally wouldn't want to censor the creators of South Park....religious icons on clothing? Maybe...where do we draw the line?
ReplyDelete