Authenticity? What is that?

For class this week we were to read 3 articles that all dealt with authenticity in some way shape or form. We were to look into what questions these articles resonated for us and what quotes stuck out to us. Then we talked about these questions and quotes more further in class to get a better understanding of what each article was trying to get across.

One quote that stuck out to me in the article by Shonibare was a statement stated by Yinka's tutor. The quote said," Well your African aren't you? Why aren't you making authentic traditional African art?" The reason this stuck out to me was because it reminded me of how people stereotypically think about other people from other parts of the world. Just because you might be from another part of the world doesn't mean that you are any different from someone on the opposite side of the world. Yes, you might see things differently and make things differently because that's part of your culture but as we have talked about in class before globalization is always taking affect. We learn from other people their customs, values, and ways of doing things. We learn how to adapt with one another. Just like Yinka here, he isn't going to produce authentic traditional African art if he was never influenced by it. He is going to produce things that he has been influenced by. He stated in this article that he was more influenced by American programs then African ones. So, it makes sense that he would make contemporary art over authentic traditional African art. For an example when I think of California I think of surfers, but I know not everyone is a surfer that lives in California. If I did then I would be classifying everyone into the surfer category when I know only a few people are actually surfers. So why classify Yinka into thinking he is going to do the authentic traditional African art? You can not assume just because someone is from Africa that they are going to just make that alone. They have been influenced just as much as the rest of the world by globalization.

This also raises the question what is authentic traditional African art? Is there such a thing? Who decides what is authentic? What is authenticity? All these come to mind as well for me when reading these articles. I feel like there isn't really a true authentic art. I feel like that is based on the viewers discretion, or the producer themselves or the culture's people. I feel it's what people feel is authentic. It's kind of like asking the question what is normal? Everyone has their own view on what is normal. My definition of normal may not be your definition of it. It's all based on the person themselves. That's how I feel authenticity is. This also brings me to thinking if say an American were to go to Africa what would they expect us to make? What would our American authentic art? Is there such a thing as American authentic art because we are so diverse? I don't know but it's something I thought of when reading about the expectations that people had of Yinka. So in essences I feel authenticity is a debatable topic that I feel people can't really justify or explain.