Hand Print, Hunting and Being Human Lecture

The group (Foundation Pre-dregree) attended a lecture titled Hand Print, Hunting and Being Human. The subtext of lecture was; what is art?

We were presented with two images of the Lascaux Cave.

Gaining an understand of the paintings will help in answering that question. 

From the very beginning of the human species as we know it, there has been a need to say we are here, we lived. This is represented in the hand painting in the cave.  This is the people who lived thousands of years ago making their mark on the world because they know that one day they won't be there and they didn't want to be forgotten. This could be seen as the first self portrait.  

The second image depicts a hunting scene. This could be seen as documenting where I am - a landscape. The hand print art says 'I was here', the hunting scene could connote 'what I am doing'.

By contrasting the two different view points about art one can propose the theory answering the question 'what is art?'.

That the majority of art is a way of documenting who you are and what you are doing, a way of leaving a mark on the world that you don't have to understand. Humans are the only species that do this and art can be classified into two groups; the hand print (portrait - who I am) and the hunting scene (landscape - where I am). 

Using the theory when considering the manuscripts exhibited in Blackburn Museum, the art work would be classified as the hunting scene as it is documentation of what was happening at the time.

Individual fashion would be categorised as the hand print. Fashion is a way of expressing yourself, emotions and views. What you wear becomes part of you, communicating messages about your identity.

However cultural fashion would be identified as the hunting scene in the way it is a recording of social standing, ethnical differences and influences of social-cultural changes.