Through out each individual’s life, the crave for self-definition and self-understanding is the core of human experience. It an be said that developing a conception of self-identity is the basic impulse of human consciousness. The sources of identification which animate and ground human beings are immensely diverse. Culture is one of the most basic component that contributes to a human identity. According to Omekwu in 2003, “cultural identity is those attributes, behavioural patterns, lifestyles, social structures and norms that distinguish a people from other peoples.”. These are passed on laterally or inherited from one generation to another (cultural heritage), or horizontally passed on from one society to another through such agent as globalization. Globalization has become an immensely popular topic among social researches although its definition is still controversial. In term of culture, globalization is recognized as a complex and diverse phenomenon consisting of global culture originating from many different nations and regions. Besides the obvious benefits it brings due to the advances in communication, trade and travel, globalizations also put some certain negative impacts on cultural heritage of the local nations.
As a Vietnamese-born and raised, I was trying to examine the impact of globalization in my own contemporary culture by playing around with visual fragments from Vietnamese culture and the global culture.
Dong Ho Folk Painting is a Vietnamese traditional woodcut painting originated from Dong Ho village in Bac Ninh Province, Vietnam. Dong Ho paintings, manually made of from 100% natural ingredients, is a fine reflection of traditional aesthetic valua, social philosophies and humanitarian desires. It is usually shown in the most important occasion of the year: Tet – Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Having rich cultural values, Dong Ho paintings can be a good indicator of Vietnamese authentic tradition.
Borrowing the elements and ironic attitude from Warhol “Green Coca-Cola Bottles”, I take Coca Cola visual trademark logo as an indicator of Western commercial culture and Globalization.
Original Dong Ho artwork: Duo paintings: Buffalo Herding. One is playing flute and the other one is relaxing. I created a file of Coca Cola logos on Photoshop and printed it directly on the painting.
Buffalo Herding is a very distinctive daily activity of Vietnamese agricultural culture. It represented for the slow and peaceful lifestyle which is roughly changed by the appearance of industrial lifestyle which brought about by Globalisation the same way those logos negatively impacted the artwork. Moreover, by imposing the mass-reproduction onto an authentic artwork, Western cultural symbol onto a very local art, my idea is also to engage with broader themes, including perceptions of value, mass production and brand globalization, in this case: Coca Cola.
Final work 2: Relabeling Coke bottles
Original artwork: Scene of Wrestling – a traditional activity of Vietnamese
One of the most important effects of cultural globalization can be the commercialization of culture. Production distribution an consumtion of cultural good and services have become commodities along with the essentials of life. It happens in any non-Western countries that the local people are bombarded with new images, new culture and new values. Consequently, the familiar and the old artefacts are being discarded since they are not valuable in the global market. This corrosion of the local’s values and cultures has a destructive effects on the sense of self-identity. It will lead a crisis of cultural confidence, combined with economic uncertainty and crime which global integration brings.
By redesign the label of Coca Cola with distinctive Vietnamese visual patterns, my intention is to immitate the process how Coca Cola is promoting American culture in the global market. On the other hand, it is also a popular strategy to bring the global brand closer to the local.
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Met Museum, (2014). Ink Art’s Merging of the Old and the New. [online] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-teens/teen-blog/2014/old-and-the-new [Accessed 20 Sep. 2015].
Mulitnational Monitor, (2014). Every Nook and Cranny: The Dangerous Spread of Commercialized Culture . [online] Available at: http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/012005/ruskin.html [Accessed 20 Sep. 2015].
Omekwu, C.O. (2003). Information technology revolution, libraries and cultural values: Issues, impacts and inevitable challenges for Africa. 69th IFLA General Conference and council, Berlin August, 1 – 9.
One Country, (2009). Perspective: Identity and the search for a common human purpose. [online] Available at: http://www.onecountry.org/story/perspective-identity-and-search-common-human-purpose [Accessed 20 Sep. 2015].
YouTube, (2013). Dong Ho Folk Paintings. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVkQ0UWNqaE [Accessed 20 Sep. 2015]
