Through my artistic research, I've become more aquainted with Quebec history and culture. I've tried to analyze how these aspects influence their contemporary art, specifically logos and graphic designs. The logos are art themselves and the interesting thing in my opinion is that these pieces of art are more publicized than other physical art forms. These logos will be shared, spreading culture, historical context, and overall, I believe them to be examples of post-modernity. The designs embody multiple cultures and identities within them while also communicating the aesthetics of todays world. Logos strive to be simple and easily communicated, and I think the logos I decided to showcase exhibit these modern characteristics. With the Indigenous People of Canada logo, it is interesting to see how traditional Indigenous artistic factors went into creating a sleek, modern logo. I really appreciated how the designers incorporated meaninful symbols into this design that represented the different Indigenous peoples. Many Indigenous peoples in Canada have been westernized, culturally assimilated, and discriminated against. Due to this long process of cultural assimilation, many Indigenous peoples are no longer connected to their culture or they have no pride for it. This leads into another reason why I love this logo, because there is so much pride and resilience within it. Indigenous people have a huge impact on Canada's culture and history. They are not only the first people on the land, but their presence created negative controversial struggles which bled into modern day politics, media, and arts. There is so much more history and current events I could've incorporated into this logo's page, but this website is a place where I hope to grow and it is where I will continually update and add in information in the future.
The Montreal Canadiens are a significant part of Montreal culture. They bring communitas because a lot of people look up to them and they bring many people together from different walks of life to celebrate a common experience. They celebrate the French community and have come to represent them. Like Football in the United States, Hockey has similar effects in Canada. Cultural events occur due to these exciting, inclusive community activities, and as a result they become a part of tradition that will be passed on to later generations. Sports in general give people something to connect with and hold onto. Somebody could be born decades later after the creation of the team, but by choosing to support and be a part of the community the sport fosters, they are now a part of a bigger picture. They now have connections to more parts of history, local and global events, communitas, the teams highs and lows, the people on the team, fellow supporters, team apparel, etc. Choosing to belong to a cultural community opens people up to new worlds, traditions, rules, and history. The logo plays just as notable of a role in this, because they give everything I listed a face. When people think of or say Montreal Canadiens, the logo might pop up for a lot of people. This simple design, like humans, goes through a design evolution with the aspirations of becoming the most useful. Each logo of the time period fits that time periods aesthetics and purposes. The logo we use today does the same, it's simple and modern yet classical and bold. It can allow people to reminisce while also feeling it accurately represents our contemporary times. The logo excites people, hypes them up, it reassures people, reminds them of home. Nothing is nothing without a face, a brand. Everything needs a strong visual to make it memorable.
I think Montreal's logo is very unique, not only due to it's simple symbolic success but also because not every city creates a specialized identity for themselves. The love that Montrealers have for their city is shown within the creation of this logo. The city itself felt they needed to distinguish themselves and give themselves an aesthetic identity, a brand. The drive to create this local identity is what is interesting. This logo is seen on government property, but it is also a beloved design that artists love to incorporate, and other businesses/organizations want permission to use. It is a visual identification of the city as well as it's municipality.
Anthropology is becoming more digitized along with art. Interactions, observations, and learning are happening more and more through the lense of a screen. I've been observing French Canadian culture and trying to analyze it through my laptop. Is it ideal? No, I'd rather be in Montreal right now, conversing with people, visiting businesses and museums, and walking the streets but I cannot deny the handyness and reliability of the Internet. Especially, in times like these, where traveling isn't possible. However, it has been an incredibly interesting experience learning how a modern art form (graphic design) can still carry heavy historical, social, and cultural context within it. It truly fascinates me how the most simplest of designs can hold a nation's history and tradition. Not only does each logo have context, but it also has immense purpose. It is a symbol to people, it means something to everyone, it is easily translatable and shared. The majority of the world is leading themselves into an artistic culture built on media and technology...but unknowingly. Since digital media is so widespread and normalized, we as humans have become numb to it, we don't see it as art or a form of "culture", we see it as advertisements or publicity. Graphic Designers have an important mission. They need to embrace this digital future, and allow the world to see that digital visuals can still embody culture and meaning, and that digital art still has the capabilities of evoking emotion and catharsis.