In my last two entries I have outlined the concept of cultural appropriation and talked about my decision and process of creating a design project using ideas from another culture. In this entry I will delve more into how we, as designers, can create culturally inspired works that avoid appropriation and instead serve as a celebration of cultural diversity.
The major point we have to consider is the meaning and intent of a piece. Is it for a personal project or a mass audience? Is it meant to inform and educate, or are the cultural signs used for aesthetic? Montogomery (2017), surmises this concept as follows:
Being inspired by other cultures is a natural outcome of living in a diverse society and an important part of the creative process involved in making art, music, dance, and fashion. But blurry lines do not mean that it’s right to remove art, clothing, jewelry, and other intellectual and cultural property from their original contexts without acknowledging where they came from, whom they represent, and the political and historical struggles of those groups.
In other words, wanting to design using techniques from outside of your culture is a completely natural inclination to act on, but you have to ensure that you acknowledge and accurately recreate the intents of the source culture. Baker (2012) poses this question using the example of Native American dream catcher earrings: should a person purchase them from a commercial brand because they were a great party accessory, or should they purchase from a Native vendor after learning the meaning behind them, and then wear them? From an appropriation stance, the answer should be obvious. Where possible, purchase from within the community and learn the importance behind the object first.
In a design context this means creating a design after learning about the symbols you are using instead of just imitating the “style”. This is the approach I took when designing my Polynesian tribal art Moana playing cards. Rather than flat-out imitating tribal art that I saw, I did a lot of research to find out the meanings of every stroke and symbol. This research helped me to not only form an aesthetic, but also to add the extra dimension of narrative and storytelling in the design work, and also made me form a genuine appreciation for the amount of thought and effort that goes into Polynesian tattooing, which up until now I had only seen the aesthetic function of.
Of course it can be difficult to make sense of a culture that is far removed from your own, both internally and provided the physical distance of cultures across the globe. Large studios like Disney are fortunate enough to have the budget to send their teams jet-setting across the globe for research purposes, which they did while creating Moana to help them create a more authentic product (Robinson, 2016). I lived in Japan for a year, and made it a point to venture up north to the countryside of Hokkaido to visit Porotokotan, one of few specialist museums of Japanese Native Ainu culture, purely so I could better understand the country I was living in. The extra knowledge gained via immersion is incredibly beneficial when trying to understand and represent a different culture.
“But what if I can’t travel?” I hear you ask. My answer? Use a library and the Internet. Libraries present you with the scholarly side of culture, and provide an overview of the state of a culture and how it should be treated. The Internet allows you direct access to the people within that culture; forums let you instantly communicate, websites are plentiful and informative (though trustworthiness should always be questioned) and Skafidi (2005) points out that many minority communities even have web stores to purchase authentic products from. There is no real excuse for not checking before you emulate something when a Google search can give you the answers you need in 0.75 seconds.
Thus ends my series on culture, appropriation and design. I hope it has been somewhat informative for anyone who has expressed interest in or has already tried designing based on other cultures. I know I for one was petrified by the idea, but I am glad I pulled through with it as it really helped to extend my own knowledge of the topic and acquire an appreciation for design as something meaningful instead of purely aesthetic. Research sounds dull, but in this circumstance it really does make all the difference. Happy designing!
References
Baker, K. (2012). A Much-Needed Primer on Cultural Appropriation.Retrieved 11 February 2017 from http://jezebel.com/5959698/a-much-needed-primer-on-cultural-appropriation
Montgomery, L. M. (2017). Native By Design. Retrieved 11 February 2017 from http://www.sapiens.org/culture/native-american-design/
Robinson, J. (2016). How Pacific Islanders Helped Disney’s Moana Find Its Way. Retrieved 12 March 2017 from http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/moana-oceanic-trust-disney-controversy-pacific-islanders-polynesia
Scafidi, S. (2005). Who owns culture? (1st ed.). USA: Rutgers University Press.
EmD 