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1 – 4 of 4Commodification doubles self and work, life and object, uniqueness and standardization and art and management. For the artist, the unicity, beauty, inspiration and creativity of…
Abstract
Purpose
Commodification doubles self and work, life and object, uniqueness and standardization and art and management. For the artist, the unicity, beauty, inspiration and creativity of art is doubled in the sale, marketing, display, distribution and mass production of “art works”. Making art is intimate, personal and individual; selling art requires public display, pleasing the all important customer(s) and dealing with many sorts of in-betweens. What commodification is on the artist/art work level is doubling on the I/me, self/persona, private/public and in-group/out-group level. This paper aims to examine the commodification and doubling in the case of the Gee’s Bend quilt makers. The quilts foreshadowed the modernist aesthetic and are of the highest aesthetic quality. But, they were made in a traditional rural society by very poor, uneducated black women. The quilts were not made to be sold but were dedicated to familial remembrance and to immediate aesthetic pleasure. But now that they are on display: is escape from commodification possible?
Design/methodology/approach
Reprint for special issue.
Findings
Doubling, in the original article below, was tendentious but artistically and politically to be overcome; doubling currently seems much more ominous, omnipresent and out of control. Signifyin(g) has become bomb throwing. Present day doubling apparently produces terror and not just commodification.
Originality/value
Invited for publication.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to pursue the themes of feminine identity, doubling and (in)visibility; first in terms of “signifyin(g)” as a cultural and literary strategy, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to pursue the themes of feminine identity, doubling and (in)visibility; first in terms of “signifyin(g)” as a cultural and literary strategy, and second, in terms of quilting seen from the fiction of Alice Walker to the quilting of Gee's Bend. In the background, there plays the relationship between art and commodification.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines “commodification” and “doubling” in the case of the Gee's Bend quilt makers. The quilts foreshadow the modernist aesthetic and are of the highest aesthetic quality. They were made in a traditional rural society by very poor uneducated black women. The quilts were not made to be sold, but were dedicated to familial remembrance and to immediate aesthetic pleasure.
Findings
Commodification doubles self and work, life and object, uniqueness and standardization, art and management. For the artist, the unicity, beauty, inspiration and creativity of art is doubled in the sale, marketing, display, distribution and mass production of “art works.” Making art is intimate, personal and individual; selling art requires public display, pleasing the all‐important customer(s) and dealing with many sorts of in‐betweens. What “commodification” is on the artist/art work level, is “doubling” on the I/me, self/persona, private/public, and in‐group/out‐group level.
Originality/value
The author proposes, from the example of quilt‐making, a wide‐ranging interrogation: “Is escape from commodification possible?”
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Alyce McGovern and Tal Fitzpatrick
The contemporary practice of ‘craftivism’ – which uses crafts such as knitting, sewing, and embroidery to draw attention to ‘issues of social, political and environmental justice’…
Abstract
The contemporary practice of ‘craftivism’ – which uses crafts such as knitting, sewing, and embroidery to draw attention to ‘issues of social, political and environmental justice’ (Fitzpatrick, 2018, p. 3) – has its origins in centuries of radical craft work, where women and marginalised peoples in particular, employed crafts to protest, take a stand, or raise awareness on issues that concern them. This chapter explores how crafts are being used to highlight key social and criminal justice issues that are of concern to criminologists, including the missing and murdered, state and institutional violence, and sexual abuse and violence. In canvassing the ways in which craft is being used to draw attention to, document, memorialise, demand change, and heal, this chapter considers why criminologists would benefit from being attentive to the strategies craftivists are using to challenge the status quo and make visible the invisible.
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"All the stuff that happened before you were born is your own kind of Show Way." This Newberry Award winning book can be used for many different types of activities. In this…
Abstract
"All the stuff that happened before you were born is your own kind of Show Way." This Newberry Award winning book can be used for many different types of activities. In this lesson, Show Way is used to teach map symbols.