For my self-identity project, I chose a more abstract approach to the framework of questions we were asked to complete in class. I find self identity to be a troubling topic that raises many ideas, which I would assume is a common feeling for most individuals.
The questions and maps that we were asked to conduct in the pre-design portion of this project seemed to not apply to what I associate as my self identity. What instantly came to my mind were my friends; but more than just our friendships.
Many of my close friends are gay. They may come from small towns, extremely conservative families, or extremely liberal families. No matter the upbringing, we seemed to have banned together as a community of artists, each with unique skills and crafts. Many of us travel a lot living in different places, making each day I have with a person extremely vital. I have come into a web of individuals with similar artistic aesthetics as mine, and of course we build and learn from each other. I wouldn’t describe it as a subgroup or an anti-commercial group, but it’s most definitely not geared for the majority. Also, to say we break a gay stereotype is an understatement. Thematically, we have developed a fascination for people and ideas on the fringe of society, playing with structures of sexuality, gender, abstract beauty, and contrasting imagery. To quote one friend that co-founded TAG magazine that sums up this idea well, “TAG is is a periodical devoted to individuals, artists and groups who identify as queer including trans, non-white, non-monogamous, poor, gender non-conforming, intersexed, fat, disabled, unemployed, infected, pansexual, polyamorous shit-starters who feel stigmatized with social negativity by the gaystream”
Most of us don’t carry strong ties to our families, religious history, upbringing, or geographical locations. But, many of us have been harassed based on our sexual orientation growing up and continuing still today. We also view our current worlds to be very impermanent. Each time we get together is unique to the individuals present. I find that I link my self identity to the collaborations I have with these influential people in my life. I may have known this person two weeks, or maybe my whole lifetime. Either way, each run-in, each creation, friendship, and collaboration is just as important as the next. I find my self identity to be the timeline of these artistic encounters. We value documenting the integral pivots in our lives as well as the menial daily grind; the things we create are inevitably documentary expressions of our current states. Things like how we look, what we wear, who we were with, where we were, the time of day, how healthy we are, are always recorded in some way or another. My identity is a network. And its almost a shared identity. Its like putting our shared experiences and skills into a pool; we tap in and out of that pool constantly. Thus, our identity is ever-evolving.
I chose to create diptychs of each of my friends .The images I chose either I have taken myself, or I have been involved in someway or another. If I wasn’t present for the initial production of the image, another individual in the network was, and through osmosis, that creation is then a part of me and my identity, as each individual’s identity effects the group. One side of the diptych is a photograph of the friend, the other is something that structurally, thematically, and symbolically represents that person. Its all integrative-just as the network we’ve created is. Each person is linked. Each individual’s story instantly becomes a part of the group’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment