hey guess what cultural appropriation sucks

what also sucks is being proud of a piece of art you did in secondary school

and having your mum frame it on the wall

a piece of art in an “aboriginal” style

from a term when your art teacher got you all to study aboriginal paintings, steal the ideas you liked and make your own painting based on that

and then realising many years later that you had taken part in cultural appropriation, not questioned it, actually been proud of it

while simultaneously learning very little about the culture you took symbols from

and that no matter how pretty the tortoise looks and how much effort you put into painting all those dots you are just another white dickhead who will never understand

what i’m trying to say is there are three paintings of “aboriginal” tortoises in my house, done by me, age 14, and I know I should tell my mum and dad to get rid of them but they’re really pretty even though everything they signify is bullshit (and institutional bullshit at that)

I won’t do that because they’re the only paintings of mine that my parents have framed and i’m a sissy and these have been white tears

I know what’s problematic about them. I know that an aboriginal person who came into my house would be offended at the pastiche of their cultural heritage. Or in the best case scenario, laugh their ass off. I know that I don’t have the right to make decisions about these things, and that in an ideal world I would never have painted them in the first place.

oh and it would also be wrong for me to beg for a “pass” based on the fact I was 14, it was a school project, I live in Derbyshire, my parents like them, they have pretty colours, blah blah blah

(and i’m aware it looks like that is exactly what i’m doing)

basically just aaaargh I wish I had never mentioned this now you all know my dirty secret and it is that I am guilty of cultural appropriation but i’m too much of a pansy to do anything about it except apologise

Sorry :/