The essay discusses the same story from the perspectives of Joy Garnett and Susan Meiselas, who are in quite different positions. Susan attempted to sue joy and requested a licensing fee, implying that Susan thought Joy’s work was “plagiarized” to an unclear extent or border. She claims that she emphasizes the importance of accurate history and respects the individuality of the person when she takes photographs in a particular context. Joy agreed to give a credit line and cite Susan’s photo as its resource but disagreed with future requests for Susan’s written authorization. After experiencing how Molotov’s influence spread and fermented, Joy started to question the right to create art, as the article’s title suggests.

I understand both of their points of view from their perspectives. Apparently, appropriation is an endless topic. Controversial topics mean there is no right or wrong. In the literary and academic world, there is a very clear definition of plagiarism. However, in the art world, ‘appropriation art’ seems to be a kind of art expression dissociating between plagiarism and originality.

I understand that the original purpose of “appropriation art” was to inspire the audience to think creatively and to perceive commonplace objects from a fresh perspective. This brings me to Glenn Brown, the “plagiarism maniac” who gained fame while facing a great deal of criticism. I’ve seen a few of his paintings and sculptures online, and they truly moved me. His works carry a feeling of overwhelming emotion. Brown uses images from the web, books, and other printed materials and reconstructs, distorts, and manipulates them to express his thoughts via paint.

I remember Brown once said that he utilized the remnants of other artists’ works to create using the methods of reference, appropriation, and research, giving the memorized pictures a fresh perspective. Like when I was a child beginning to draw, the teacher would instruct me to utilize my imagination and draw it on paper for that. I would draw things from my life that I had captured and stuck in my memory and put them together in a collage of my imagination. Many of the details in the painting are realistic references, but the painting is also based on my creativity and imagination.

The key is how the creator perceives their own works and how the audience appreciates such works; if there is enlightenment, there is positive importance. In fact, all creation has a reference, but the percentage varies.