“It was only a matter of time before someone co-opted Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ video, but who knew it would be so horrible? YouTube comedienne Nicole Arbour, who got dragged a couple of years ago for a fat-shaming video, decided to put a ‘feminist’ twist on Donald Glover’s latest.”
—Yesha Callahan, Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ Has Been Colonized
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW8whgmyTNU
No honey. No. This was not for you. This isn’t edgy or cool. It misses the point at a level so profound it makes it.
For my White Artist Friends that want to fight about this:
It IS possible to support struggle that isn’t yours and respect and appreciate the art created by those going through it without making it apply to you, about you, refocus on you or minimizing it to promote yourself. Not everything is for the taking – whatever you were raised to believe.
The basic requirement for pastiche and mimicry and remixing existing work is to elevate and expand on the original, to add nuance and layers and new ideas that uplift the old work and add to the collective value of the original conversation. This doesn’t pass the smell test for any of that.
I used to work in a gallery.
Rule one … wear gloves and respect the art – keep it safe from your unintended fingerprints.
Rule two … know what it’s worth before you touch it.
Rule three … don’t assume you know the artist’s intentions and ask first before moving any piece of their work.
Rule four … Don’t steal the art and try to pass it off as your own.
—darcy totten
Flommist Darcy Totten is devoted to illuminating often-overlooked voices and telling stories from new angles. Darcy has worked with MTV, Spike TV, NBC/Hearst, ABC, Corbis, the State of Texas, Pantheacon, RGBB, LLC, KIA motors, The Promised Band, ACSA, the NBA, several Black Lives Matter chapters and is the co-founder of Activism Articulated. Copyright © 2018 Darcy Totten.
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