Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Rhinos and pickles.

I'ts never about the Rhino.


Hmm, I don't know how to lead into this, but I've been looking at a lot of photography of Tribes in Africa for the totally shallow reason that they're stylin? They're pretty? But all those examples of colorful body painting, woven textiles and interesting body modification are in these books that are surprisingly old-school about how they portray people. In that they portray the people of africa not as people but as animals or a "species" that can become endangered. It's really wierd but like they'll have a picture of these kids "stampeding" or of a girl grinning wide with a camel behind her, and because she has a gap between her teeth and the camel has a gap between it's teeth they are suddenly the same thing? They don't have sex they "mate" etc. etc. 

It happens elsewhere too, obvious example: The Lion King and that new movie coming out, AFRICAN CATS! Africa doesn't have people, only singing lions haha

I mean, I can't talk. My sketchbook is full of blackface babies and fictional tribe people. The more I learn about all this kind of negative imagery the more I want to incorporate it into my work, just because it's sometimes so seductive in how it ungulates between benign and scarring.

Plus it makes me feel naughty, there is that.


1 comment:

  1. Thinkin this new african stuff is stylin as well.

    I also liked your fictional blackface babies, remind me a bit of the nymphs from Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland.

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