critiquing whiteness

WHY IT MATTERS...

Somebody asked me recently why I was so critical of Western culture.  They asked why it mattered if we can’t change it anyway.  They pointed out that there were many powerful organisations operating, companies and governments, that had invested interests to protect and that we are powerless against that.   I replied that some change is better than none.

So, why does it matter to me?

It matters to me because I am a part of the problem.  When I enrolled to study art the opportunity was there to do ten electives and this is where my interest in understanding the West began.  The first and second year units were easy, the focus was on the West in general.  There was a comfortable distance in critiquing generalisations.    The first of the third year units was Australian Cultural studies and this was where the comfort dissipated.  This unit was criticising my culture, my society and the way I live.  It felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar to be on the receiving end of the criticism.  It also became very personal.  With the focus of the critique turned back on myself and the culture that I exist in there was a temptation to enroll in something else.  A subject that gave me the marks needed and allowed me to write from within a comfort zone.  But it would still be there, the knowledge of what our Western obsession with consuming is doing to millions of other human beings.  It is never easy to critique ourselves.  But doing it, despite the discomfort, can bring about awareness and change.   Now that I know and understand that I am part of the problem it offers the opportunity to become a part of the solution.

I have stopped doing the cultural studies units now and have taken up the topic in my art study.  It’s still the same topic, just explored and described using pictures.  As we all have a highly developed visual literacy there is the potential to reach an audience who may have otherwise just clicked through to the next blog or website to consume something easier and more comfortable.  This blog is a way of drawing these two areas together, or a way to publish the results to a potentially much wider audience than just my classmates.

Katelyn Parker
From the Cupid art series
mixed media digital painting 2014

It has started to matter that I, at the very least, think about the effect of our consumer culture on others and my complicity in it.  I’m realistic about how much of a difference I can make.  Probably very little on the global stage but I can change the way I consume to be more thoughtful and considerate of the effect it might have on others.   There is no question that the west loves to consume.  Our lives are drenched in it and our economy highly dependent on consumption.   The real problem isn’t our consumption but how we are going about producing new and marketable consumable goodies.

Although we all live within different cultures, societies and hold different beliefs and values, there will always be that one commonality that we share, our humanity.  Consumerism affects us all no matter what side of the equation we are located on.      

All images unless otherwise stated are my own