As an artist, I have always wanted to explore art forms outside of Australia, wanting to know what lies outside of western art. With this, I have been very lucky that my mother introduced my brother and I to Asian culture from a very young age. Any time she went on an overseas trip, she would always bring back paintings, sculptures, dolls dressed like geishas, etc. I consider the way I view the world now very influenced by how diverse out household items were, and this allowed me to have no prejudice or toxic mentality to other people’s nationalities that I would encounter.

This subject has further reinforced my love for Asian culture and the arts scene that is being so widely recognized. It was eye opening to me upon viewing ‘People’s Republic of Desire (Hao Wu, 2018)’ as I had no idea the world of online influencers in China was bigger than anything I had seen on YouTube. The industry produces so much financially that in 2016 “the topic of digital transactions leads us to think of the trillion dollars reputedly moving outwards into the world from Hong Kong” (Athique 2019, p 4).

It is then pushed in other countries like India, that the flexibility of digital money creates a dominating linking system that gives people a sense of how great the effects of these transactions really are (Athique 2019, p 4). I am glad that we’ve been given such a wide range of topics within this subject, not only to expand my knowledge of these ongoings, but to give me a reassurance that my interest in these topics are shared with more people than I thought.

I was particularly invested in the week 6 screening of 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki Ep. 4 No Cheap Excuses. I have had a great interest in animation for some time and once Studio Ghibli cam to Netflix last year, I was able to access (and binge watch) all of the movies available. I have been greatly influenced by Studio Ghibli, so much so that I have recreated and artwork seen in the film ‘From Up On Poppy Hill’ (2011).

I’m enthralled by the “diversity of languages, environments, philosophies and aesthetic traditions remains a defining feature of Asia” (Athique 2019, p 3) and have used that interest in the culture to further my own artistic experience. With so many platforms on the internet gaining popularity, cultural barriers begin to break down (Athique 2019, p 3), allowing others to form a love and appreciation for these genres.

#bcm320 #digitalasia #digitaltransactions #animation

References

Athique, Adrian (2019). Digital Transactions in Asia. Digital Transactions in Asia: Social , Economic and Informational Processes. (pp. 1-22) edited by Adrian Athique and Emma Baulch. New York, NY United States: Routledge