The issue of naming and cultural appropriation in the creative world

The Flipside: Getting and generating our true creative value. This will be the title of a discussion held on Wednesday by founder and chief executive of Marutlulle and Co, Sizakele Marutlulle.

It will include a panel discussion with some of the panellists being designers Nkuli Mlangeni and Shaldon Kopman, intellectual property and copyright lawyer Sara Samsodien, film producer Zikethiwe Ngcobo, Nkgabiseng Motau, curator Lungi Morrison and gallery owner Monna Mokoena.

This is the second instalment of a four-part series and will be hosted at Kaya House in Johannesburg. The first Conversations discussion was hosted at Gallery Momo early this year addressing topics around art and how art is valued.

“This one is about creativity as we understand it. Is there a thing called African creativity, if it is what does it look like, how do we attach value to it, how do we make certain that we can find this thing I call politics of recognition – so how do we recognise that art is a cultural currency, that it speaks to peoples identity, it speaks to people’s agency and it speak to peoples sense of living,” she said.

“We think of them as having platforms for having difficult conversations but also platforms for surfacing solutions, because it’s not helpful when all we do as a community of black people we are always angry – because we live up to the stereotype or live down to the stereotype.”

One of the continuous issues in creative work is attributing ownership and often language has played a role in such instances. Marutlulle has spoken at length about the issue of naming when it comes to creative work.