Cultural diversity is a term that encompasses a lot of fields and areas of discussion. One of these areas is art- which in itself is a collection of various abilities of humankind as expressed in the skills be they, drawing, music, carving, oratory power and sports among others (Stephen, 2007). These two fields came to my comprehension when I for the first time took part in an art exhibition held purposely for art and architecture beginners in our college. This paper is a report on the experience I got from the exhibition
Art exhibition
The exhibition was held in the main campus hall which is the largest in the college. The event was scheduled to run for three days and each day had a specific area that it covered. The first day majored in drawings; the second day majored in music and drama while the third day was set aside for oratory power and sports. The theme of the event was: expressing cultural diversity through art. This message was carried throughout the three days. The presentations were done by groups of third year and fourth year in the college. The event was also used by the tutors as an assessment test for the participants.
Day one, I saw the participants prove their prowess in their comprehension of cultural diversity though their drawings. The drawings included the old and modern living styles in different cultures. The drawings especially captured the diversity of homesteads that have been used in the six different continents. Others featured the generations that have been taken in most major towns of the world up to a point that almost every city has houses that resemble other cities. This form one of the presenters showed the integration of culture. The modern housing in the cities has featured that can be traced form diverse cultures. Also the drawings captured different economic activities in the different cultures. These involved agriculture, hunting and gathering, pastoralist, fishing, bee-keeping among others. Some drawings showed the rivalry
Between the pastoral communities and other agricultural groups fighting for land. The emphasis on use of drawing is in our course book (Stephen, 2007).
Day two I saw the participants show their prowess through drama and music. The themes in these day included rites of passage for different communities, the different ceremonies that are held by different communities, the leadership patterns, the different music origins. Carrying the day was a drama that involved characters from Indian and African origin involved in a marriage row. An African man was to marry an Indian girl. Each side claimed according to its culture it was to receive dowry as also shown in Stephen (2007).
Day three was not without its dramas expressed through oratory speeches and sports. The speeches were to touch on the value of sports in societies. As it came out clear from the speeches, some cultures had sports as a leisure activity while others used it as a rite of passage these topics were as we had read in our course material (Diller, 2010). Of the latter, wrestling was used to prove manhood in the speeches. A captivating speech was given on bull fight which carried the day. Also, attracting attention was bull fight that involved both man and animals.
Conclusion
The experience that I got from the exhibition was the first in my lifetime. Though I had read many books bearing topics in diverse cultures, the issue of diversity came to me in a completely new picture and the need to appraise and respect every culture emphasized. In his closing remarks, the head of art and architecture department used memorable words “art is the only vehicle that can carry all cultures to coming generations”.
Reference
Diller, V., (2010). Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services. ICI: New Jersey
Stephen., T., (2007). Accommodating cultural diversity. Cengage Brain: New York
