Thomas Quinlan

Ms. B
Art III
January 25, 2016
Artist Statements
Cultural Appropriation is an issue that means a lot to me, as I personally
would never want to offend, demean or mock elements of someones culture.
Cultural Appropriation is best defined as the adoption or use of elements of a
marginalized culture by another culture, albeit devoiding them of their cultural
significance and often times receiving different responses socially than the
marginalized culture. Cultural Appropriation is rampant in society today; often
these elements of culture are being used to make the one appropriating seem
fashion forward, edgy or stylish. Now for my pieces I chose to focus on 5 different
things that are cultural appropriation, three relating to black culture, then one
relating to native peoples culture and the last relating to Indian culture and the
religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. The three elements of black culture that were
being appropriated in my pieces were, gelled baby hairs, dreadlocks and braids.
Braids and dreadlocks are a protective hairstyle that allow for black hair to grow
healthily, without knots and they keep the hair neat and organized. However these
hairstyles have been heavily criticized on people of color who wear them, and they
are seen as being unprofessional, despite it being a natural hairstyle. Gelled baby
hairs are something that black women and Latina women have been doing for
years, as an aesthetic, practical kind of beauty, to keep the hairs from being all
about. Now when these women did it, they were told they looked ghetto, however
this past summer, Katy Perry gelled her baby hair and received immense praise for
creating a new look. Also with the events over the past years, with police brutality
against people of color on the foreground, these people appropriating black culture
didnt speak up against the injustices being experienced by these people theyre
appropriating from. Native peoples headdresses were another piece I did, because
these headdresses are often appropriated to make one look fashionable or
indie, however they lose the meaning of the headdresses. These headdresses
were often given to strong warriors, or elders of a tribe, different ones being given
to men and women. People who appropriate them, take this strong element of
native culture and erase it of meaning, to look cool. Considering the state of
native people in the United States today, where they have had their land stolen and
now have to live on horrible reservations, when people take another thing from
natives, they arent too pleased about it. The Appropriation of the Bindi was the
final piece I chose to do. The Bindi is a kind of jewelry placed over the sixth chakra,
which is concealed wisdom, and has deep significance to the culture. The word bindi
comes from bindu, which is the center a mandala, which represents the center of

the universe. When the bindi is appropriated, this meaning behind it is erased,
instead being used as an accessory. After Selena Gomez repeatedly appropriated
the Bindi, Rajan Zedd the leader of the Universal Society of Hindu, came forward
and asked her to stop using it as an accessory, because it was erasing the
significance. I have researched this topic for many years, which made me aware of
it. Before researching cultural appropriation, I had no idea that it existed or was
even a thing to be concerned about. I chose to do a collage to bring attention to the
fact that various people appropriate these elements. Celebrities and fashion
campaigns were the main things I tried to find and focus on because these are the
trendsetters in our society, and many people copy what they see from these
people. To try to drive the point home that cultural appropriation is bad, I covered
the eyes of the largest appropriators with the phrase Once again, __________ culture
gets no credit.

Bibliography
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