Recently, people have been debating whether museums and art exhibitions should exhibit local art rather than international art pieces. This essay agrees that local museums and galleries should solely present local artworks because this can increase public knowledge of local cultures and appreciation for local artists.
Displaying various nation’s art in local exhibitions can help people gain insights into their national cultures. This is because these places offer the opportunity to explore authentic traditional art pieces and observe them in real life. Moreover, if the exhibitions also provide their visitors with specific and detailed information regarding the artworks, it would be very helpful for them to value the art from the perspective of its creators. For example, in Indonesia, many students visit local museums to learn about crafts from diverse ethnicities, such as Batik from Java or Songket from Borneo.
Furthermore, presenting the works of local artists can be a way to appreciate them. In order to display art pieces in galleries, they have to purchase the art from their creators or divide the dividend they will have from the ticket sales with the artist. Therefore, not only do they give a chance to the local artists to be known by the public, but they also offer them financial support to produce more masterpieces. For instance, the Indonesian government often holds national art exhibitions that allow domestic artists to present their works, like sculptures and paintings. In addition, they also receive percentages from ticket sales which they will use to produce more crafts.
In conclusion, solely presenting domestic artworks in museums or galleries, such as traditional crafts or local artists’ art pieces, will enable the countries’ citizens to gain more knowledge of their national cultures and give more support to the domestic craftsmen. Therefore, I agree that exhibitions should show more local artworks.