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pathway in the park
The Intelligence of Plants with Robin Kimmerer Wall. OnBeing Podcast with Krista Tippett. February 25 2016
https://onbeing.org/programs/robin-wall-kimmerer-the-intelligence-of-plants/
Braiding Sweetgrass written by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A New Kind of Land Acknowledgement, Ange Loft, Candice Hopkins, IIana Shamoon and Lindsay Nixon in conversation
https://canadianart.ca/features/a-new-kind-of-land-acknowledgement/
What touched me the most was Tanya's performance art. I was in tears while watching it. Her suits take on a warm, almost skin tone coloured, like the other projects she made, inclusive, harmless, warm, and peaceful. Interpreted pain with love, embrace wound with hug, I think this might be one of the greatest emotions in the world. For the Land Acknowledgement piece, the artists recreated the historical event through modern art perform, using symbols, patterns, body movements and acting skills which are other kinds of “languages” we use to communicate in modern world. I would rather call them translators, they decode something with languages we understand, and did a great job raising awareness of indigenous cultures. The podcast with Robin Wall Kimmerer on her non-traditional view of botanical aesthetics, as an environmental biologist, is very interesting. I was deeply touched by her beautiful metaphor, perhaps this is a culture thing. She talked about how indigenous people see everything as alive and has third person names for them. I was thinking we had something similar in Chinese culture. We use different characters to call animals, female human, male human, gods, and other lifeless objects, while they have the same pronunciation. As human beings we should maintain respect and humility to the earth, which people in the past did much better than we do now. “In the dance of the giveaway, remember that the earth is a gift we must pass on just as it came to us. When we forget, the dances we’ll need will be for mourning, for the passing of polar bears, the silence of cranes, for the death of rivers, and the memory of snow.”(Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass)
As the water spread over the backs of her feet, she felt the biting cold, the rough surface of the rock is rubbing against her skin. After standing for a long time, she gradually stopped feeling cold and even got a little warm。 We were amazed at how quickly the human body adapts to the nature.
John Akomgrah: Art 21 - 16 minutes
https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s10/john-akomfrah-in-london-segment/ (Links to an external site.)
Nicholas Galanin, “Shadow on the Land”
https://www.pbs.org/video/nicholas-galanin-shadow-land-and-excavation-and-qblj8m/
Read: The Globalized Museum? Decanonization as Method: A Reflection in Three Acts. (originally published in Mousse Magazine #58, April–May 2017) Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung http://moussemagazine.it/the-globalized-museum-bonaventure-soh-bejeng-ndikung-documenta-14-2017/
The three artists their own unique methods of delivering their art pieces/messages. Starting with Nicholas Galanin, his art installation which is a burial site in the shape of the shadow of the white colonialist, Captain James Cook, located in Sydney, Hyde Park. In my opinion, it conveys his message in a way that is more abstract, it is not presented as-is but rather it required the spectators to reflect upon him/herself. Of course, there are traces of hints of the general direction which he wanted to steer to. For example, in one of the mounds there is a board with “bush burial” which is a reference to a painting portraying “the white heroism” that is quite inaccurate in a sense lacks historical truth. In the light of showing the cruelty and the ruthlessness of the colonialists I think it is doing a wonderful job that anyone who comes from a background where their country had a history of being colonized can find their own interpretation of what the piece means. I would say his method of delivery is effective, the core message is clear and there are room for interpretations
For the works done by John Akomfrah, his art piece is more straight forward. they are comprised, most of the time, a series of video pieces that are stitched together and presented in a multiple screens format. There is also post-editing involved which helps to communicate with the audience, as he said he is more like a choreographer than a creator. Most of his work stems from his background as a Ghanaian immigrant. After his realization that the art, in a general sense, which most people has seen are most likely euro centric. The discomfort as he felt like he is out-of-place in the culture results in he wanted more representation and recognition of the black community also raise the social issue, ranging from environmental concerns to the struggle of visible minorities. He also collaborates with other creators/artists on similar matters. I especially like his notion of “bring the past, the present and the future into some sort of whole”, that I think it is a good way to initiate the talk of the subject in question. As much as it is a good format, it is more “subjective” of an artistic expression that the point of view is imposed by the creator, the narrative which he wants to convey is from the maker himself. If you ask me, I do not think it is a bad idea. after all, the liberty of expression is in the hand of the artist him/herself.
For starters, the author has characterized the relation between local versus global as by “global” is like an overarching entity, which often in a western scope, that glooms over the “local”. The issue arises when a lot of the times the western knowledge will ignore or disregard a lot of the intricacies and details in which will result in “gross generalizations”.
Later in the article, the author discussed about bringing different canon together, which will make it more diverse as no canon is superior to the other and each canon is merited from its’ societies’ unique “historical and social givens or myths.” But there is a problem with the canons in which they are created and maintained by men that they could treat women as they are inferior. So, the first step to do is “decanonization as a method”. Decanonization, as explained by the author, is a method of de-constructing the making of the canon and in which it could make the canon more elastic – hence more acceptable of bring in the cultures from all communities. He goes into further details saying that it will involve in abolishing the “hierarchical structures that produce canons” while preventing similar canon from emerging. He then points out the decanonization also grants the ability of “reappear, rewrite, rearticulate and rephrase” what has been erased independently of other existing canon but in the relation of what happens in the current time. The result of the decanonization is which are works created from the “other” culture will no longer be treated as relics or something exotic but an embodiment of performances and knowledge thus decoupled from conventional western scopes, and approach from it’s native background.
Mona Hatoum in Studio: I Never Know What I will End Up Making
How To Be an Artist By Night, RAQS Media Collective
I love how Mona Hatoum is honest with herself and her audience. Or We could rather say having audience or not does not matter at the end of her creation process. Making, creating, doing something new every day is a very estimable ability. What I see here is she has made the progress of making things become a part of her thinking process. "I find this very exciting... this 'not knowing" Through all the practices she did on daily basis, accidents or surprises will jump on her and that’s some treasure we could only acquire through time. As I was reading through the next reading”How to be an artist by night”, it mentioned that there is a musical tradition called Riyaaz, refers to repetition, interruption, persistence, disruption and sequencing in vocal practice. During riyaaz, the practitioner reflects on his or her practice and tries to get himself or herself to act through music. Riyaaz is formed through the continuous rehearsal of listening, reflection and self-direction. This is exactly how Mona Hatoum elaborate Riyaaz in her own way.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby – Inhabiting Multiple Spaces | Artist Interview | TateShots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeYP8ssD_BM
Lubaina Himid: TateShots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc1i66JYaJE
Audre Lorde,“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masters House, in Sister Outsider, Penguin Books, 2020.
I chose video of Lubaina Himid Artist Interveiw, video of Njideka Akunyili Crosby – Inhabiting multiple Spaces and Audre Lorde,”The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masters House. In Sister Outsider, Penguin Books, 2020.
Those materials address different issues as black women living in this society. Lubaina Himid talked about how she created most of her pieces – not just paintings, but also the actual collage pieces, or objects, which stood on their own, in real life. Those beautiful bold colored objects are not just image hanging on the wall, but you could see, touch, even smell them, you would know there is a thing standing here while you first walk in. The metaphor of her pieces are so accurate and perfect, just like we shouldn’t let the patriarchal society keeps ignore and marginalize the black community, we as woman should always stood out, show the bright color of ourself, and be visible in an environment that destined to be scrutinized. At the end of the talk she mentioned she wouldn’t able to create her pieces without the support from her community. From that I felt the same to Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s paintings. Akunyili’s paintings and collages are mostly about how black community or black immigrants are challenged to live in two different worlds. She wants to give a voice to herself through her art works. “Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression”, Audre Lorde wrote in The Master’s Tool Will Never Dismantle the master’s House. However, the individuals like Himid and Akunyili, truly hold everything they have in their hands and create some sparkles that belongs to the black women community. “Within the interdependence of mutual (nondominant) differences lies that security which enables us to descend into the chaos of knowledge and return with true visions of our future, along with the concomitant power to effect those changes which can bring that future into being”.(Lorde, The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masters House)
Being an international student in a large immigrant country like Canada, I was very touched by these materials, especially Akunyili's painting. First of all, my personal identity is very similar to hers, constantly wandering back and forth between the two cultures. I have been in Canada for ten years and I feel like I don't belong to either side. I have participated in many programs with the purpose of finding my own personal identity, but through today's reading and understanding I feel that speaking up for myself and voicing my confusion may lead me to a new stage.
A little extra thought:
Because this fits more at week 7’s topic, so I want to put this here.
I would like to add something after attend artist talk by Annie Wong on the 11th.
At first, I don’t even know how to feel about this art piece. It felt wrong to present some culture’s spiritual practicing for other people with different cultural background to judge. Because I do believe this thing, which might be very weird to other’s view, is real. I think it might be the pride in my national blood, or even a little of the shame, that was hidden inside me, was causing the strange feeling. I quickly realized most of the feeling comes from the discomfort of being judged. Also, I would like to mention that it is a privilege of Westerners to judge the culture of other nations. Chinese people are not confident when it comes to our national culture. China has a history of being forced to open the doors for the revolution, where once ancient cultures were considered as dross. China took over hundreds of years to keep up with the world’s frequency. On the other hand, it is a privilege of Westerners to judge the culture of other nations. Is it appropriate to make ancient culture as an art? Is this even considered as art? What’s the definition of art or just a plain exhibit? I can’t help but think of the art piece “A book from the sky” that Xu Bing made in 1988. He created the whole series of book, using around four thousand Chinese characters he made up. Both are representing the Chinese culture, but Xu Bing’s work did not give me any discomfort, even I cannot read any single page in his book.
Black Futures: An Ode to Freedom Summer, Produced by M4BL - Movement For Black Life In partnership with Root Story Films that imagines a future when all Black people will be free. https://m4bl.org/black-futures-month
The Art of Protest: Tate Modern Podcast
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jeremy-deller-3034/art-protest
Read: The connections between public art and activism, Sarah Ratzlaff Interviews Syrus Marcus Ware for Spacing Magazine, July 2020
http://spacing.ca/toronto/2020/07/22/the-connections-between-public-art-and-activism/
This week’s materials are all focused on the “protest”. There are a lot of methods for protesting, weather walking down the streets with flags, or doing public performance involving around some communities, the goal of the protest is always to “express strong objection or disapproval” (narrator, The Art of Protest)
The first material I watched is about the great black movement Black Lives Matter. the black community has struggled for hundreds of years to finally make the world speak out for them in the summer of 2020. However, behind this rising tide, there are a lot of blood, a lot of human lives to give. I couldn’t have but think of a tragedy happened in my home country China. While Chinese government is doing such a great job protecting their people from covid-19, they did not take enough attention on pets who also are infected with the virus. It was in the news, “Pet cats killed in Chinese city after COVID-19 infection, triggering social media anger” (https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/pet-cats-killed-in-chinese-city-after-covid-19-infection-triggering-social-media-anger-1.5605032) I cried after reading this online, fearing for other pets’ life. That happened back in September. I remembered thousands of people are retweeting this with cyber anger, government officials had to apologize to the owner, but the similar things happened not only once. When the wave of virus comes in the city, the Chinese government usually will require the whole population from this area to move to a “camp” for quarantine. The “camp” usually are hotels or school dorms. However, when people are partially forced to move to the camp, what do they do with their fur kids? In big cities like Shanghai, people are allowed to quarantine with their pets, but it was hard to say in other not so internationally known cities. This month, in Shangrao city, another pet dog was killed after the owner left home for quarantine: “The killing of a corgi shows how government power has grown unchecked in China in the name of Covid prevention (https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/china/china-dog-killed-covid-mic-intl-hnk/index.html) I can’t breathe while watching the video. And of course, I have joined the retweet crowd, fighting for justice for families who lost their pets. Finally, one of the largest authority accounts on weibo has spoken about this news on the 15th of November, condemned the wrongdoing of the local government.
The wave of anger generated by all those who see their pets as family is a revolutionary march, all words should be in all caps, all cyber citizens who have participated have become radicals, how many people will be in gag jail until we see the light from above? There is public art in real life, this is a public art.
Reading Images Against Racism, Su-Ying Lee, CMagazine, Autumn 2020
https://cmagazine.com/issues/147/reading-images-against-racism
The Appropriation Debates, Candice Hopkins, Mousse Magazine
http://moussemagazine.it/candice-hopkins-the-appropriation-debates-2017/ (Links to an external site.)
This week’s materials are all about Racism on people of color.
As an Asian I have a lot to say about this topic. The first article I read is the Reading Images Against Racism by Su-Ying Lee. The picture of the butcher in the Kuala Lumpur market described by the author is very ironic. It is not only a stereotype in the eyes of a Westerner, but also a representation of white privilege. The second reading is an analysis around art that speaks up for black racial and indigenous population discrimination. Racism is a way of thinking, a political methodology. In the existing framework, any activities about race against race is benefitting white supremacism.
Although I’m in Canada, I’m always interested in Chinese news. I have a habit of reading news online almost every day. Recently, there is a debate online of how Chen Man, a female professional fashion photographer’s commission work for Dior, are discriminatory to Chinese people. Her work presented a series of Chinese woman with different national cloth, or decoration elements on them, are using Dior handbags. She styled the models with high fashion makeups, and all her models are not typical “pretty girl” looking from a traditional view. "When it comes to city publicity or brand promotion in the European market, photos usually go with an image of calmness, elegance and nobility. So why do we have to use the image of ordinary people, even one with ugly makeup on, when it comes to Chinese models?" wrote one netizen. Even the head title of this debate on global times are “Kissing up Western world? Chinese photographer’s photo for Dior sparks criticism”. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1239073.shtml
I personally think Chen Man did nothing wrong. Why normal Chinese girl will be considered as ugly? Or why the models must be pretty in popular definition? When people are less confident in themselves, the more likely to feel that the world is targeting him. I found these “self-racism” are quite common in people of color. However, I still think that criticism is a good thing, criticism can trigger reflection. We need to keep thinking in order to move forward.
photo credit by Chen Man
This argument reminds me of an art piece that Pengyu and Sun Yuan made. It is called ”can’t help myself“. “an industrial robot turns and flexes restlessly, programmed to ensure that a thick, deep red liquid stays within a predetermined area. ” https://www.designboom.com/art/sun-yuan-peng-yu-cant-help-myself-robot-venice-art-biennale-05-12-2019/
Just a perfect methophor for “self-racism” . When we try to wipe the shame clean, but the shame came from out body, from the deep inside of this robot arm.