exploit/appropriation

To exploit: to take advantage or to make the best use of .

To appropriate: to legislate or to take without consent.

Without getting too involved in dictionary meanings, I feel that both words can be interchangeable. Regardless, people are constantly learning from their surroundings by taking things and ideas. In some cases, even selfish acts of taking may contribute to a larger whole, society, country or world.

However, I find offensive and exploitative in the negative sense, when an artist emphasizes a community or peoples’ “otherness” as shown in the Vanessa Beecroft’s video. There is something so wrong about going somewhere to “document” solely to show others your own self-realization of the world around you. On the other hand, I felt that the photos shown in class proved much more genuine and sincere. The images prove that the photographer has substantial relationship with the subject and a message to be told.