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Art Classes: The Art of Snobbery

Class. Britain is obsessed with it. That divisive taboo, the weird networks of have-mores and have-lesses. Art in Britain often explores this obsession, frequently focussing on the plight of the working-class family, or the perils of class mobility. Author Javaad Alipoor summarises this attitude as the arts world seeing working-class people as a problem to be solved.

When creators have a more diverse and engaging background, they’ll have a more diverse and engaged audience

Alipoor’s nails an issue here. The arts world ‘sees’ working-class people. If artists and the working-class are two distinct groups, then one will always ‘see’ the other; more of a lecture than a conversation. This rift can lead to stereotyping and condescension rather than expression and reflection.

But should we be panicking about inequality in the arts? Well according to a recent study called ‘Panic! It’s an Arts Emergency’, yes we should. According to ‘Panic!’, the cultural and creative sector is marked by significant exclusion of those from working class social origins. By these terms, ‘class exclusion in creative industries’ means ‘richer, better connected people dominating the art world.The people producing this country’s culture, be it films or music or paintings, don’t represent the people in the country. In fact, ‘Panic!’ states that ‘the prevailing belief in meritocracy is not matched by the reality of the sector.’ Of course, success in the arts is as much about who you know as it is about what you can do.

the arts world seeing working-class people as a problem to be solved

Grayson Perry is at once the best and worst walking examples of involvement of class in the production of art. In some respects he’s the worst because working-class stereotypes in his art have won him prestige in the fine art world. He even won The Turner Prize, the Olympic gold of British art.

Perry’s work finds a focus in the vibrancy of tastes and social classes, particularly his series of tapestries from 2013, The Vanity of Small Differences. The threads form a tale of a man’s journey through British social classes, starting with working-class tableaux. The first in the series, The Adoration of the Cage Fighters, is a scene from a council house. Centre-ground, two cage fighters tattoo each other with what Perry calls ‘present icons of tribal identity: a football shirt and a miner’s lamp’. Garishly dressed women prepped for the ‘pre-lash’ adorn the tapestry, along with the worrying lament ‘I could have gone to university’. Perry reduces the hopes, dreams and livelihoods of the working-class to a clutter of embroidered bric-a-brac. There’s something toe-curlingly awful about a bunch of posing art snobs snickering at working-class desperation, camped-up on a 50ft tapestry in a London gallery.

the cultural and creative sector is marked by significant exclusion of those from working class social origins

However, Perry is also the best on this topic, because he himself has made the journey between the classes. Coming from a working-class background and gracing the upper echelons of the art world, Perry’s references are from a place of knowledge and reflection. He started his career as a potter, a craft which Panic! suggests is the most representative of class in the creative industries. He lived in a squat, learning his craft through evening classes. Anthony Horowitz writes that ‘there was a time when you could buy his pots or a weeks dole- now they’ll set you back around £50,000.’

And while punching down to the working-classes is cynical, Perry’s work also satirises the middle-class and upper-class lifestyles. The middle-class tapestry is laden with ciabatta and The Guardian, overseen by the holy ‘God of social mobility’ Jamie Oliver. The tapestries satirise all classes, and the individualistic materialism that come with the territory.

The people producing this country’s culture…don’t represent the people in the country

It’s an insightful series, in which people from every class can see themselves. A rare moment of universal authenticity, art at its most accessible. As Perry says, ‘taste is that which does not offend our peers’. Good taste depends on who’s judging. When creators have a more diverse and engaging background, they’ll have a more diverse and engaged audience.

Fashion: The Fast and The Furious

Whether you’re a fashion guru always repping the latest trends, someone who rolls out of bed and throws on the first top and pair of jeans they can find, or fall somewhere between these two extremes of the ‘fashion’ spectrum, the pull of the fashion industry affects us all in some way. But how often do you stop and consider where the clothes on your back came from, and what toll their creation may be taking on the world around you?

In reality, the high-street fashion of today falls into the category of ‘fast-fashion’, an industry revolving around constant change and newness and prizing low production times and costs. Clothing brands rely on rapid movement from catwalk to clothes-hanger. Speed is key: production of new trends and a focus on the constant changeability of styles is what keeps consumers interested and ready to buy, even if their wardrobes are already full.

However, though good for the business of your favourite fashion brands, the fast fashion phenomenon is far from environmentally and socially sustainable.

Responsible for 10% of global carbon outputs, the Fast-Fashion Industry’s emissions total five times those of all airline travel combined. What’s more, textile dyeing is the second largest polluter globally following agriculture. Perhaps an even more shocking fact in light of the current movements against the use and abuse of non-recyclable plastics is that every time a garment made of polyester is washed, it sheds tiny plastic microfibres that leak their way into rivers and oceans. After this it is only a matter of time before they are consumed by fish and other aquatic organisms, which often end up on our own dinner tables. A portion of plastic doesn’t sound the most appetizing, even when accompanied by a side of chips and curry sauce.

If this wasn’t enough, the drive of fast fashion to push down prices means that workers in the garment and textile production industries suffer so that the demands of Western fashion brands can be supplied. Estimates show that some 170 million children worldwide are engaged in child labour, marking a shocking 11% of the global population of children; many of these young workers are employed in the garment industry and work long hours without even receiving a minimum living wage to support themselves and their families. Even the adult workers in the industry often work in dangerous conditions such as with harmful chemicals or in buildings that are unsafe and prone to collapse.

While these facts are alarming, they can also leave a high-street shopper at a loss as to what to do in order to make a positive change.

A good starting point is simply to be more conscious of your shopping habits and question how much of what you purchase is bought on impulse rather than for genuine need. Moreover, it can be easy to underestimate the benefits of shopping second hand, but by opting for pre-owned items a buyer can help to keep clothing that has already been produced in use for longer, as well as saving themselves cash. Websites such as Ebay, ThredUp and Depop or local charity shops often sell new clothing that has barely been worn or even still has its original tags intact at a fraction of high-street prices.

As something that is both an everyday necessity and a personal statement of expression, everyone has a personal relationship with the clothing they buy and wear. Today, it is becoming vital that this relationship is a more conscientious one, rather than one funding industries based on destructive and unethical production processes.