Module File
Nathaniel Stevens
Smooth Criminals BRIEF:
APPROACH:
Find 5 examples of cultural appropriation used in a design context.
I wanted to find specific contemporary examples of cultural appropriation and more importantly, I wanted to find examples that had opinions from the people who’s culture has been appropriated from as I didn’t feel it was up to me to decide what is and isn’t appropriation. I wanted to design them with a combination of a poster and an editorial, so that they were hopefully eye catching but also had an article to read so the audience can get a good understanding of WHY it is appropriation and how it AFFECTS those whose culture is being appropriated.
Cultural appropriation is defined as ‘the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture.’ The practice is often criticised because elements of marginalised cultures are often not respected or celebrated in their own right – and only seems to find widespread acceptance when a ‘dominant’ culture steals it, repackages it and sells it. The examples you find could be adverts, products, campaigns or objects. For each example you find, identify what may be the irresponsible nature of its cultural thievery. A few suggested questions to ask are: • How are they disrespectful of the culture they are ‘borrowing’ from? • Is there any effort made to acknowledge the ‘stolen’ culture’s origins? • Who is being affected by this example and why? Produce as a series of five A3 portrait printouts using a consistent designed approach to lay out the images and text for each.
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