12 ms·
Should art be tied to the people, the land, the culture, or any and all? If art belongs at least in part to people or culture... there are a lot of Africans in
by bpodgursky 7y ago
Should art be tied to the people, the land, the culture, or any and all?
If art belongs at least in part to people or culture... there are a lot of Africans in the US. Should they have the right to learn about the culture of their ancestors in a US museum? Why or why not?
Cultures and people change. Obviously none of the individuals from the 1600s are alive today, but many of the cultures don't either, and peoples migrate. Tracking down every individual ancestor (by culture? by genes?) and allocating them their proportional art seems... challenging.
I'm not arguing that we shouldn't "repatriate" some art. But I don't think it's as simple as "yes, wholeheartedly". There are fractals of complexity to untangle, and it's unclear at what point we cease to be better for trying.