The Displacement, Migrations and the Perceived Lack in Contemporary Art - Essay Example

Visual Arts and Film Studies Introduction Migration, displacement and geopolitical boundaries are among the things that marked the great change and innovation of art. The new generation wanted to make works that would be more closely related and more relevant to the world they lived in. Contemporary art includes the artworks from poetry, photography, painting, sculpture and ceramics. It has been observed by Wilson that “over the past 15-20 years, there has been a growing legacy of texts and art exhibitions that have addressed issues of exile, displacement and migration.”1 Artists through their artworks have tried to bring out the idea that migration, exile and displacement are matters that are as a result of political and social changes, which have generated the wider world of modernity. General Themes Displacement Displacement comprises of one of the main parameters in our cultural development currently, and constitutes desired geopolitical characteristics of the present life. Art has taken advantage of displacement in countries that are not economically and politically stable. Levi and Scheding are of the opinion that “maybe the only generalization possible is that displacement must be understood as a complex and heterogeneous mass phenomenon.”2 Displacements of artist have a wide context in which they affect the artists. Rather than subjecting the artists into a new physical environment, there are more situations playing behind. Levi and Scheding term them as the social, cultural and historic contexts.3 Artistic displacement has faced a series of events in it which include the movement of images, goods, information and people. These subject contemporary artists to a wide range of concepts. Many have tried to understand the essence behind displacement and contemporary artists. Tactfully, many artists would find opportunity to show case their ability, and therefore need to relocate to desired places. In other cases, nature and political stands come on the way and cause the unplanned to occur. Importance of Displacement to Contemporary Artists If displacement has been deployed and embedded into the consciousness of the society, then it will be inevitable that contemporary artists will react to this in a particular way. It’s the function of contemporary artists that they provide a tool to the society on which to have reflection. It was once said by Dreyer (2009: 6 quoted in Willemse, 2010) that “art often serves an observational, analytical and interpretational purpose, both art’s mimetic function and its imaginative aspect provide powerful means by which any society can introspect, investigate and visualize itself as a capsule of socio-cultural and political status quo.”4 With regard to displacement, which often occurs due to many factors including political misalignment, artists get the platform to act in the capacity of the activists, and its here that they get to play their major role as a voice of the society. Their aim in this particular case is to air out their grievances regarding displacement and the effects it has to the society. The major task is to involve moral and ethical concepts in their arts. The role played by an artist will provide him with the platform to be regarded as the societal hero and in this sense, regarded as the shape maker of the society. The argument here is that contemporary artists take advantage of a situation such as displacement. Migration Development of arts ranges from several factors that provide a building block; migration is one of the components of contemporary art. From the definition of art as a social and collective activity by Drnovsek,5 it is demonstrated in the ideological frame of creation and delivery of designed works. Therefore, there is a clear relationship between the visual arts production and diverse migration situations. The close connection is shown through individual’s reasons causing migration and the societal policy towards migration. All these concepts regarding migration are important to a contemporary artist in developing the theories and construction of artistic work. It is true that the process of migration has shaped the lives and the major part of people’s lives in this planet. The numerous statistical data gathered from historical archives proves this ideology. The study and analysis of peoples experiences in migration, the cultural environment, and how the social environment impacts them have been demonstrated in various sources of information, be they diaries, newspapers, stories and other supportive documents depicting the issues of migration. It is in this great migration that there was migration of artists, to whom they had renowned creativity. These artists created works which were perceived to be a largely significant part of documentation both towards the life of the artist and the process of migration. It was through such artists that particular issues pertaining migration could be seen and provided, Drnovsek reveals that “artists provided works which can be perceived as important documentation of the migration process and the artists new environment while at the same time, they can reveal the individuals intimate perception of the migration”.6 Contemporary artists have got the advantage in that they can provide interdisciplinary links within migration studies, as well as implementation of modern principles. These enable the researchers of migration to promote various sources of migration present during the period of previous centuries, while linking them to the current century. Contemporary artists have much to learn from the ancient artists who took part in the development of migration framework, from historical art, sociological and cultural perspectives that they have began to research, on different dimensions of life so as to correlate to their current new environment. Further studies as revealed by Drnovsek show that while based on migration, the contemporary artists now have the ability to apply the experience of migration and marginalization of artists, as well as the influence of exile on artwork towards the establishment of attitudes and relations towards the new world circles.7 In a different angle towards migration, Drnovsek depicts that “migration process and different, often multicultural contexts of immigration environments influence the construction of migrants’ identification and every day activities”8 He further suggests that migration and other changes lead to experiences of displacement, marginalization freedom and development into new cultures.9 A distinctive feature in the world political map is the existence of boundaries, which remain to offer paramount significance; these boundaries have their own unique landscape shape. Boundaries provide a means of having varied geopolitical traditions. Dodds, Kuus and Sharp agree that to some extent, the relevance of contemporary art is related to the emergence of space as a central theme; they further make an observation that contemporary art has recently taken the advantage of multiple art works, exhibitions and writings that have occurred in the recent past.10 Modern art has been transformed by new sources of theoretical forms of inspiration such as the Marxist theory and bio-politics. Geopolitical boundaries have interrupted the general set ups of regions in such a way that these regions can be categorized accordingly. Such concerns have infected the contemporary artists with the desire to explore and face queries such as violence, military and the power of state. While various theories have explicitly proved the relationship between the geopolitical and contemporary artistic practice, Dodds, Kuus and Sharp suggest that both have developed conceptual underpinnings, so as to create intervention in production, playing key roles in global political environment.11 The attempts to develop radical politics past modernity are productive in an attempt to create optional forms of geopolitics. Dodds, Kuus and Sharp further argue that contemporary art is seen to have developed as a result of development of the modern world.12 Artists may find themselves in an exile world and regions that emphasize on their own original culture. Some of these exile regions have become a factor of powerful representation and commercial representation. Many artists have more than often found themselves in situations whereby their work is not recognized by their own societies. Hou and Yu suggest that the major possibilities for them to showcase their talent and profession are to be in an exiled environment.13 There are examples of contemporary Chinese artists who have made realizations and therefore exhibited their work abroad. The major advantage that they use such environments to effectively explore their other voices; that is, they make use of the situation. Harris argues that beyond the economical, cultural as well as biological concepts, there are also political and racial concepts that correlate together in building up contemporary art.14 Artwork Photography The idea of exhibition dawned on Slemmons as he was invited to Chicago Council of Global affairs; he learnt about the many layers of migrations that existed from Mexico and Chicago15. He had worked with exhibition and art therefore had great interest to explore the impact of layers of border movement of people from Mexico to America. Kristine is another photographer whose artwork has been used to expose the human events and inspire change among the people.16 Photo of train headed north with migrants to America in south Mexico cited from Slemmons Falola and Jennings reasons that some contemporary artists from Africa have relocated to countries abroad in search of greener pastures; it is there that they can get sponsorship and adequate access to tools and supplies which favor their stylistic approaches.17 On the contrary, some artists who migrate feel marginalized because of the difficulty by the host countries to appreciate their work, the situations which may be compounded by government’s lack of support through grants and sponsorships. Falola and Jennings say that “through their writings, African intellectuals have contributed to the understanding and acceptability of African art world wide”. Some of the recognized artists from Africa are Wole Soyinka and Toyin Falola. Through movement of goods and services, there has been growth in international popularity of African art. Painting Through collecting a couple of artworks, many things come to mind, “displacement, migration, multiculturalism, social challenges, family and adaptation”.18 Artists are able to communicate their messages through illustrations as in the case of the painter. Indeed, communicating through paintings creates a dialogue between the viewer and the image. In a particular example given by Ferki about migration laws in Australia, the rise of discrimination has risen within the socio-political context. Painter’s creativity cited from Ferki.19 Read More