"The White Peril and l'Art Negre: Picasso , Primitivism and Anticolonialism" Patricia Leighten

What was interesting to me about this piece was that it showed a new way of thinking , it doesn't criticize anything but instead focuses on an event that really was proactive . Being a fan of Picasso and having seen a lot of his work it was really interesting to learn what may have been behind the paintings.

It gives me a lot more respect for Picasso and other modernist painters that they were aware of the colonial exploitation that brought the African art to Europe and thus used primitivism as a way to contest and contrast the use of Africa in much of pre WW! French art. And although some people saw the Modernists work as being exploitative they really were trying to use primitivism as an act of social criticism and as a search for a new art.

It reminds me of the Canadian artist Brain Jungen who uses running shoes to create masks that mimic those of Native Canadians. I think that like Picasso he doesn't do this to exploit those from who the mask come from but instead to create a social commentary and conversation with the viewer. Looking at these piece I begin to question why the west over took the Natives land ... was it so we could buy $200 dollar Nike shoes ? I think it also shows how much we live in a consumerist society where as generations before us depended on the land and themselves for a lot more.

I think it both cases , Picasso and Jurgen , it brings a whole different set of people and hopefully these people realize and appreciate the originals that the work is based on and where they came from.