Blog 1 – Lecture reflection. Teleica Kirkland, Representation.
I have chosen to reflect on lecture by Teleica Kirkland on theme Representation. In my opinion, this topic has to be tackled on everyday basis to improve socially and become stronger as a community.
I was born in Latvia, small eastern European country. Only after moving permanently to United Kingdom, I have realised how much I was culturally uneducated. In order for you to understand, immigration level was and till today is very low in Latvia and you would not call it a “go to” tourist destination. Furthermore, as I can recall, 12 years of History lessons has not included any insights on other than European History and culture. Local media did not had any diversity, it was all centred around white people. It is a great example of Eurocentric outlook, which was mentioned by Teleica Kirkland. Latvian citizens often very prejudiced and frankly racist. By the example of my birth country, I believe, that prejudice towards other races and class is often develops through young age, particularly through lack of education within this sector.
Another issue which often arise from lack of awareness is cultural appropriation. A great recent example would be a runway show AW20 Comme Des Garcons which received a huge backlash for cornrows hairstyle, which were used on the show. Despite the brand coming forward and apologising, explaining the reasoning and inspiration which was drown from Egyptian Prince. Before making such decisions and putting them forward, brands and their employee have to educate themselves, know the origins, know the cultural reasons, learn and more importantly, understand it and only then make a decision if it would be appropriate to use certain elements in their show, clothes and etc. Teleica Kirkland made a great point that problems lay within communication between races and made reference to very successful project “Wafrica”. “Intrigued by his experience as an African living in Japan, and the similarities between the cultures of Japan and West Africa, he set about creating a new aesthetic, one that fuses the elegance and sophistication of Japanese cultural icons with the vibrant colors and flamboyance of West Africa”(Jewell, 2018). This project supports the importance of knowledge and communication between cultures to understand one another which enables to create astonishing outcomes without offending anyone.
This lecture was so informative and eye opening, with many examples which allowed me to connect my past experiences and knowledge to understand how to conquer representation issue, at least within my own social circle and future work.
Bibliography:
Jewell, C. (2018) Wafrica: exploring identity through design. Available at:https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2018/06/article_0004.html (Accessed: 13 April 2020).