Thoughts
- before, during, and after -
Motive
My Art History course, "Modern, Postmodern, Contemporary" focused on the relationship between indigeneity and contemporaneity for a good chunk of the semester. Combined with my identity as a Japanese person, it has made me want to dig deeper into the indigenous art culture that I never properly learned about in school, and understand how people perceive works made by the Ainu. I was fascinated by the way Contemporary Aboriginal Art was developed, and I wondered if there are similar cases for the Ainu.
Categorizing
I understand how categorization is important when learning about countless artworks in the art world, but it is also a very Western linear history that many marginalized cultures are molded into. This includes the division of art history timeframes, what is categorized as art, and what is considered "good art." What even is art? The concept of art differs for every community, and midway, I had developed a shame in calling the works by the Ainu people solely as "Ainu art." The debate of capitalizing it or not is a whole other discussion. For the sake of this project, I will keep it this way, but I want to look more into what the respectable way to refer to other cultures is.
Reflection
I learned how difficult it is to create a comprehensive analysis of the history and characteristics of another culture, one especially that is indigenous and has often been overlooked. By my heritage. I feared that I was approaching the culture through a disrespectful lens, but I also think we need to start the conversation to get to a better place. In the end, I don't know how I should grasp the phrase "contemporary Ainu art," or whether there even is such a thing, but I have a stronger sense of responsibility to talk about the Ainu culture to people who don't know about them as much as me. I think "art" (whatever that is) is a segue into thinking about a culture and tradition that is different from (and similar to) yours, and realizing how history and art and people are so interconnected.
Thank you for exploring the website.