Kendell Geers Cultural Appropriation

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In the modern world we are not only surrounded by the culture of our own people but also that of those who live amongst us be they from a different region of our own country or from a foreign shore. Culture surrounds us constantly and through its diversity makes life interesting. Cultural appropriation is where by one borrows something from another culture and places them into a different setting and by adding new elements to it gives it a new meaning. Many artists use cultural appropriation to convey messages in their work, an example of this is Kendell Geers. Kendell Geers uses cultural appropriation throughout his artworks relating to South African culture. Kendell Geers is a South African artist who grew up in the time of apartheid, he …show more content…

He used words to create a pattern, specifically the word fuck. Kendell Geers engineered the appearance of the lettering to create his murals; so that the viewer did not directly see the word itself an example is Post Pop Fuck 21. Kendell Geers uses the word fuck because he says, “It is one of the few words that is still magical,” and is able to evoke something inside people as “words have lost their meaning” in today’s world. Fuck has multiple connotations depending on the context it is used in, as it may be destructive as well as creative that is why Kendell Geers refers to it being “magical Although Kendell Geers did not exclusively use the word fuck, he also uses words like believe in the same manner within the wall murals. He has also extended to use his appropriated designs on other traditional items of the Ndebele culture Kendell Geers refers to himself as a ‘white African’, although some may say otherwise. In the Portrait of the artist as a young man there are characteristics of having a double identity, one is of the white working male Afrikaner that was raised in the time of the apartheid who is taught to believe in it and then there is a mask of one of South Africa’s great icons Nelson Mandela, who fought against the apartheid