Open Theme nominee

This series is about cultural appropriation. It has been suggested that white women who practice belly dancing are engaging in cultural appropriation.

Belly dancing, known also as Raqs Sharqi, is identified mostly with Egypt. Appropriation has been defined as the adoption or theft of icons, rituals, aesthetic standards or behavior from one culture or subculture, by another. It is regarded as a by-product of imperialism, capitalism, oppression and assimilation and is generally applied when the subject culture is a minority or somehow subordinate in social, political, economic or military status to the appropriating culture. This issue throws up as many questions as it answers. Is the great African civilisation of Egypt in anyway subordinate to Western culture?

This image is of an Irish belly dancer who has embraced the history and etiquette of Raqs Sharqi having been trained in Egypt where “white belly dancers” are welcomed. The photographs are embellished with color discs representing Pantone colors of pink, brown (skin tones) The blue circles represent blue-eyes, synonymous with white-skinned peoples.

Chris Kirby specialises in the areas of social context including: culture and identity, traditions and beliefs, socio-economic issues and marginalised communities.

In his work, Chris often embellishes his images with lines, marks and colouring to disrupt the conventional perspective associated with the medium and the subject matter – and in a nuanced way convey deeper meaning to the imagery.

He was admitted to Kingston College of Art and Design (in the UK) and later obtained a diploma in journalism from the British College of Journalism. He is naturally inquisitive about people(s) and the manner in which they live their lives; as a result he works mostly in the realm of social documentary and environmental portraiture.

Chris’s work has been exhibited in the UK, Europe and USA, featured in numerous print and online publications, and has won recognition in international awards.

Recent awards include:

Bronze Award - International Aperture Awards, 2012
Award of Merit - Grand Prix de la Decouverte, 2013
Exhibition - Soweto, On the Inside - Norwich, 2014
Published - "Under the Big Top" - photobook, 2014
Honourable Mentions - IPA International Photography Awards, 2015
Winner - Urban Photographer of the Year, 2015
Honourable Mention - Monochrome Awards, 2015