How Globalization Affects the Artist

As we think about globalization in art, we must take into account how it affects the artist as an individual. In order for the arts to progress or for movements to evolve, there have to be artists to push the industry in that direction. A way to look at how globalization is affecting the artist, is to look at the anthropology of the people and influences of the artist themselves. Some examples would be photographers who captured the lives of people in Afghanistan post-9/11 and in the gulf after the devastation caused by the earthquakes in Haiti. There is a virtual gallery through the New Yorker that collectively looks at art created by Haitians after the earthquake and their response to their situation leading up to their presidential elections.

Globalization in art can really be examined through a cultural lens. A lot of artists do take an anthropological view on their pieces of work. We can use art to understand how another culture works and find a connection to them. I remember a show that I saw in Copenhagen, Denmark three years ago at the Lousiana Museum of Art and the artist captured the life of lower class individuals in the southern region of America. Being a southern native, it was interesting to see that I was in another hemisphere and an artist was capturing the daily lives of those people from near where I grew up. This is globalization because we are sharing different cultures with people all over the world.

References:

Globalization and the Artist, Duke University Center for International Studies
http://ducis.jhfc.duke.edu/arts/gata/

"Art After the Quake" The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2010/09/06/haiti_art_20100906#slide=15