Identity 2.0

Constructing an identity takes a lot of inward thinking, especially if you have no idea what represents you as an individual. When we begin to formulate this ideology about ourselves, we look internally and try to figure out who we are and why. “We must trust in the identity of the other and in our own memory to recognize the person as the individual we know.”(Finklestien, 223)This is saying that in order to see true identity, you must be educated on things that trigger your brain into finding what the true form of something is. Just as how when I entered this class, I had absolutely no idea how to understand my intersectionality in regards to my identity because I was never asked to look at it. As people become comfortable with opening up and finding their true self, they construct this idea of identity that only they are ever truly able to explain. 

When I entered the exhibit, I was able to see how each artist saw very different things when given the idea of an identity. A lot of the art pieces were about how the artist saw their socioeconomic background and also how they each used what they had available to them. Some of the photography was directly in relation to race and just seeing that made me more intrigued to continue through the museum exhibit.  Starting with the Kehinde Wiley piece, I was able to tell that the social construct of race heavily influenced the work. Wiley wanted to “use the black body in my work to counter the absence of that body in museum spaces throughout the world.” He travelled all over the world in order to get the complete grasp of what he wanted to portray. His painting was oil wash on paper and the idea of race played a huge role in this because of the way he portrays the Black male. He uses vivid colors and he just makes the male appear as they should, as human beings surrounded by bright colors, rather than how society portrays them, as violent interlopers. The colors used are very vivid and that is because he wanted to play on the African fabrics he research during his trip in West Africa.

 
My favorite piece in the whole exhibit was the Fahamu Pecou;Rockwell. This painting hit so deeply to home because as I have mentioned multiple times in class, Muhammad Ali is one of my greatest inspirations. In the painting, he was depicted as well as in Warhol’s screen prints. In class, when we presented, I did my work on Muhammad Ali as screen printed by Warhol. It seemed as though everything in the painting just matched my energy and I was so astounded by the art. The artwork was a man, looking at himself, painting himself along with his inspirations surrounding him. The detail from the unpainted bottom to the very realistic items in the painting just jumped out as me and it really just explained the artists identity very properly. Everything that you would want to see was shown in this painting and you could read the author like an open book which was amazing. Warhol once said athletes are celebrities people want to see which resonates the most with me when I see this artwork. It is detailed and a genuine reflection of Pecou.

One of the coolest things to see was the Cindy Sherman painting. At the museum, I stood in shock because we went over her artwork in class. However, I was not expecting to see a real Sherman in my life. The moment presented itself and that was honestly exciting. Cindy Sherman is the epitome of self identity seeing as how all of her work is of herself as she invents these characters. She opened herself up in this super vulnerable manner which allowed for her work to just be 100% about her and how she chose to see herself in those moments. This color print reflected how her ideas of image and identity would collide on a daily basis as she made her art. 

Dawoud Bey’s piece was interesting because instead of using his own identity, he used his work to show others their own identity. As a Chicago based photographer,he used his work to make portraits of the youth and allow them to see themselves through his lens. This helps because when you see yourself in art and in places like museums, as a child you become more inclined to look up to the people you see. “The invention of the camera also changed the way in which men saw paintings…”(Berger,19)  He was quoted speaking on what he wants to achieve saying he wants to show “how young people see themselves through the lens of race, gender, class, and culture.”
Whitfield Lovell created a jaw dropping piece that showed his identity in the form of his heritage, which revolved around the African slave trade and the treatment of enslaved people in this country. He based his work on a photograph that he found in the University of North Texas, which he created a charcoal on wood art piece with animal traps and chains that were used to evoke a feeling through people as they walk through the museum. This 2000 art piece was a reflection of the trauma and bondage that he wanted to portray in regard to his ethnic and cultural identity. With this being on wood, it also gave a different perspective to me in particular because I had never seen art being so intricately placed with objects dangling and it made me feel uncomfortable, which I felt was the reason that he created the piece. For this piece to be in the exhibit, it seemed somewhat out of place, but seemed intentional because of the fact that it is necessary to see where you come from in order to get where you’re trying to go.