Packaging the Naked Buddhas
This article explores the phenomenon of tourist art in Nepal, as narratives of cultural imaginings, specifically as constructions of identity and meaning through the commodification of “ethnic” art. This demand for the imagined “authentic” has given rise to new iconographies and non-traditional styl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
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Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative
2016-10-01
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| Series: | Ateliers d'Anthropologie |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/10263 |
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| Summary: | This article explores the phenomenon of tourist art in Nepal, as narratives of cultural imaginings, specifically as constructions of identity and meaning through the commodification of “ethnic” art. This demand for the imagined “authentic” has given rise to new iconographies and non-traditional styles that are increasingly becoming the standard for tourist paintings. This paper argues that tourist imaginings offer an alternative space for artistic creativity and innovation. I consider how traditional artists see themselves meeting the expectations of tourists, by constructing categories of the aesthetic tastes of the “other,” based on specific national identities in a global context. This imagining then becomes critical to the marketing/packaging of the commodities as it underscores how these new iconographies are interpreted and sold as continuities of the traditional works of art. As a tourist commodity, these cultural productions, their negotiations with local reception and global consumption provide alternative frameworks to contextualize paradoxical definitions of authenticity, tradition, and innovation. |
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| ISSN: | 2117-3869 |