Are You What You Wear?

At an ‘Around the World’ themed dress up party I was invited to, I decided on India and proceeded to complete my outfit with a bindi – a dot placed in the middle of my forehead. But how far does my wearing of the bindi – usually worn by Hindi women – show an appreciation of their culture compared to a potential degradation of their cultural identity?

A series of photographs by Sanaa Hamid poses the question of cultural appropriation in our current social climate. Her work, titled Cultural Appropriation: A Conversation, was featured on the website flavourwire.com, a site that focuses on showcasing popular culture trends; anything from books to television to artworks. Hamid began this project in September 2013 where she photographed individuals from a number of backgrounds and allowed them to comment on a particular item of clothing that would be considered culturally or religiously significant. She compared items such as scarves, turbans and the Christian cross and what some would consider sacred cultural symbols, others regarded a fashion statement.

In this instance Hamid allows two subjects to provide their opinion on wearing the bindi. The first represents the ‘modern’ approach as this woman, “Mia”, comments, “I don’t really understand what the problem is, I’m only appreciating the culture.”

“Mia”

But what struck me was the comment from the other woman, “Krishna” who wrote, “The bindi for me symbolizes religion and heritage. It’s a symbol of strength and love. It defines me.” This is the image I will use for my analysis.

“Krishna”

This photograph draws on the idea of semiotics – the study of signs – and the way people interpret them differently.  Chandler noted that “anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as ‘signifying’ something – referring to or standing for something other than itself.” This is where “Krishna’s” comment comes into play. She sees the bindi as a way of expressing her background and religion and most importantly as a way of defining herself. So by saying that the bindi is a way of identifying herself and her religion, is it wrong for those of us who are not perhaps Hindi to then be wearing it?

Her image also relates to Stuart Hall’s theory on encoding and decoding of messages. Though Hall focused mainly on television, his idea does highlight that different meanings are developed largely from interpretation. His theory is expanded by Louw who notes that “meanings cannot be ‘fixed’ by a communicator because the meanings are produced (encoded) and can be interpreted (decoded) in a multitude of different ways.” So in this case, an individual’s idea of a particular symbol is determined by their own beliefs and experiences.

Hamid states that she has taken a ‘neutral’ stance on this issue of cultural appropriation and rather lets the audience interpret certain symbols for themselves. Although Hamid has taken this impartial stance, she still seems to question modern society’s role in using cultural symbols. She asks whether we wear certain symbols because we are part of a certain sub-culture or religion or whether we just find it fashionable. It would be interesting to find out where the women Hamid chose came from and whether “Krishna” is indeed Hindi.

Other questions to ponder are when do appropriations stop being about culture? At what level of fashion do these items become offensive? Does it mean that our current social climate is more negligent of cultural symbols?