8-3 PROJECT- Short Answer Responses: Why you believe humans have a need to express themselves through created artifacts?

8-3 PROJECT- Short Answer Responses
Name Course
HUM 100 Project
Southern New Hampshire UniversityInstructor Date
I. Explain why you believe humans have a need to express themselves through created artifacts.
Artifacts are objects created to fulfill a function and the creator's intentions are clearer if there is a cultural aspect, but sometimes it is merely the creators’ free expression of the ideas. Additionally, artifacts tend to have a historical function and can tell how a community lived and their social relations. For example, the tombs of rulers under the Silla kingdom in Korea had artifacts that signified the rulers’ power and wealth. Archaeologists often study cultural artifacts, their purpose, and the material to better understand the culture and the past. Creators create what they understand and many represent cultures in their work, but the audience may have different interpretations of their works. Creators express themselves through artifacts and while they may focus on universal human experience some focus on certain cultures and sub-cultures that are unique and specific to their cultural experiences. There are visual representations of the preferred subjects as shown in the objects, but the meaning of the objects may change over time for people in a different era and socio-cultural context.
* Explain the larger human need to express using the insights you gained from studying your artifact.
My chosen artifact is the African comb, which is an accessory that has cultural meaning and different people in Africa use the comb including wooden carved combs that symbolized beauty for women combs have unique carvings depending on the people that use them, but more carves are mostly plastic or metallic. Combs are essential for hairstyling and combing and some adorn their hair with a comb. Among the Akan of West Africa, wooden carved combs were often given to women as gifts during a marriage ceremony and even signified wealth or status (deco art Africa, n.d.). The more elaborate combs were also gifts that commemorated different special events and the iconography of the artifact often reflects the reason behind its creation. Studying the artifact provides insights into various cultures that created combs in Africa and the role and significance of these objects in their lives.
b) Detail how a person and/or concept encountered in this course has informed your explanation.
The course has helped me to look more into context to understand the role and place of artifacts during certain periods as different art forms serve different purposes. Studying art, literature, and philosophy helps to understand how cultural development has evolved and why people choose to express their cultures through certain forms of art. Culture influences the representation of art objects and certain artistic styles are people are specific periods and this partly depends on the materials available and the art that is appreciated the most. There are African communities that focused on more elaborate hairstyles that symbolize the ideal feminine beauty in these communities. Contemporary manifestations of African hair culture affect both the past and the present. There is a close link between hair and identity as there are cultural aspects reflected in the design and creation of African combs.
II. Explain how you think the act of human creative expression impacts and is impacted by the culture in which it was created.
Art is a means for people to express themselves, share, and reflect on the world around them and on themselves. As such, art and culture are intertwined as art creators communicate messages that tend to target specific audiences and this includes people belonging to the same culture or subculture. Creativity transforms everyday materials and objects into artifacts that are relevant to culture at certain points in time. Additionally, creativity affects cultural expressions and vice versa where these expressions are preserved in s specific cultural environment the sources of the creators’ imagination. African combs are important to the communities where they are created as they ‘enhance’ female beauty. The limits of art within creativity vary from one culture to another, reflecting the differences, the materials used, the techniques and the subject matter. As such, the African comb is an important cultural artifact to African communities, but has little or no cultural relevance outside these communities. a) Explain the larger reciprocal relationship between human creative expression and the culture in which it was created using the insights you gained from studying your artifact.
The reason for creating the artifact is to enhance female beauty, but there are different designs that symbolize different cultural manifestations. Among the Akan there are subgroups with different decorative com...