BLACK HISTORY MONTH | THE SHEER NEGLIGENCE OF CREATIVITY IN ETHNIC COMMUNITIES
by Saidat Animasaun
In honour of black history month and as a person of colour myself, I’ve decided to touch on a slightly sensitive topic.
Growing up in an African community, I’ve always been on the subversive side as I was interested in being a full-time creative and unfortunately, about 65% of people regard that as unconventional and unstable. My current issue is with the internalised aversion to the arts in black communities and the harsh stigmas black creatives face from their immediate and close-knit communities.
In contemporary Western capitalist society as well as in our individual cultural perspectives,
being a creative is often perceived as synonymous with laziness. Creatives are often viewed as lacking the intelligence or fortitude required to pursue more “stable” academic fields of study or work. This misconception has resulted in a disconnect between creatives and the wider society and the divide is even more severe within coloured communities
It is disappointing that given our vast impeccable history of influencing the development of multiple avant-garde art techniques and our commendable history of meticulously crafted pieces, the ‘black creative’ history seems to constantly be pushed aside. This raises the question: if we come from such a strong background of participating in arts and creating masterful pieces with raw materials and our bare hands, why is it that our current practices are seen as substandard when, in reality, we are merely continuing the work of our ancestors?
Definitely, things are changing as the world evolves, and more appreciation is being garnered, the pertinent issue is, that not enough appreciation is being awarded to these talented creatives of our time. Aside from other communities, we need to answer the call that is coming from the house and basically force our communities to see us and recognise our hard work, and our struggle to find inner justice to our raging creative side and we ask to just be recognised as anything but substandard. Because what creatives do is just as much hard work and requires similar amounts of effort and dedication.