Assignment 6: Tutorial
This project has exposed you to various cultural perspectives, broadening your awareness of different practitioners, contexts and questions concerning cultural representation, appropriation and identity.
- Has this opened up any new perspectives on your creative work?
- Can you see the importance of cultural awareness within the creative arts?
- How does the context of different cultures impact how you understand and read meaning within artworks, books, films and music?
- What is the relationship between your critical perspective and your cultural awareness?
Use the questions above to support a written summary of your findings from this project on your Learning Log, highlighting key ideas and observations and how these have affected your approach to your work. Also, share any creative responses, experiments and outcomes from the project within your submission. When you’ve completed this assignment please provide a link in your submission to your tutor.
Questions for Tutorial
In addition to receiving tutor feedback on your submission, this Tutorial will also be an opportunity to discuss the forthcoming independent projects. To prepare for this, read through Project 7 and collate any questions you have.
Summary
I was born and raised in Greece. A country with a long history and incredible culture. Traditions are part of our lifestyle: whether is about the music, food or festivals, I was involved in a way of life that shaped my personality.
Later, I moved to the UK, where I was exposed not only to the strong British heritage, but also had the chance to meet people from all over the world, especially from India, and learn about their experiences and their spectacular history.
The influences mentioned above were strong enough to give me a lot of material to write about cultural awareness and give me a perspective on how to use it to create my work. But this would not work for me. Thinking about my experience I found myself disconnected from my thoughts. In other words, with my ethnic group involvement, I wouldn’t be able to express myself.
In the last three months, I had the blessing to start an incredible journey of learning and discovering: I came to China and I’m living not as a tourist, but as a native. Moreover, I was lucky enough to meet Chinese English-speaking people who were eager and proud to show me their rich culture and their incredible heritage. China is a place with so much to see, seek and learn. It is going through a rapid ongoing transformation with technology to be the moving force to take the country forward. The rich heritage and intellectual achievements create a paradoxical society that creates artificial intelligence, flashy skyscrapers, and electronic devices of any type or size and on the other hand, speaks about dragons, animal spirits and moon cakes. This transition to understanding Chinese culture was not an easy one. I’m still going through transformation and the process of understanding. Furthermore, I miss my family and friends more than anything. And, even though, as mentioned above, I had support , life was not easy for me here. Only a small percentage of people speak basic English.
On the other hand, life goes on: I had to carry on with my daily work routine along with my degree. My Creative Arts studies have helped me balance my struggle and inconvenience. Difficulty allowed me to focus inside by using the outer influence as a catalyst. I will explain what I mean. Recently, I saw a movie about the life of the late singer Amy Winehouse. There is a particular line that the actress playing Amy’s character says that made me realise what exactly I like doing. She said: << I want to live my songs>> meaning her inspiration was experiential. This fact I just explained is exactly what my journey is helping me to achieve: Create stories, and poems, capture pictures and have my eyes and ears open to see and hear the tiniest bit that can later become a part of a puzzle in a future project. To summarise, I managed to manipulate my struggles out of hurt and pain, generate my peace, my happy place and live in it. OCA has given me the chance to write down and organise my thoughts. My learning blog has become an eager listener and a shoulder to rely on.
Odysseus and his nostalgia for his home and family, a Greek myth, has merged to my China adventure. English language in addition, is the medium of materialising my thoughts. So, three different cultures are united to help me understand, learn and create pieces of work using my ragged soul. Therefore, cultural awareness and understanding can be a guide and a wonderful tool to use and can be a code to unlock well sealed doors inside us.
REFERENCES:
Back To Black. 2024. [Film]. Sam Taylor-Johnson. dir. UK: Studio Canal/ Monumental Pictures.(Amy 025:10).
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, November 14). Odyssey. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:34, November 18, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Odyssey&oldid=1257413913
Alexander's blog 