American Identity: Exploring at the Montclair Museum
Jennifer Pappalardo
We are our own identity. It is our qualities, beliefs, personalities and looks and it can change almost any day based from our daily life experiences. It is also all a huge construct in America. Identity in America today has issued into people classifying each other, creating destructive impacts to our own self-image, self-esteem, and individuality. This is called social cognition, Judith Howard put it as "We categorize information about people, objects, and situations before we engage memory or inferential processes." A lot of this has to do with race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, age, etc. Life has been established to put labels on people and into certain boxes of "you have to be like this" and "you can't be this". "Boys can't wear makeup". "Natural hair isn't professional". "You're poor because you're lazy". "Wrinkles aren't sexy". Labels don't matter.
Constructing people into these boxes makes those who are mostly white, male, and wealthy superior in society. It encages these people from obtaining any power weighing down almost anyone who doesn't "fit" what is acceptable. Gives the people who are acceptable in society all the privilege and dominance. That one persons identity is now seeming to be less important than that persons. Like this person doesn't matter because they're gay, poor, colored or any other label that doesn't fit societies ways. And how is that fair to anyone growing up in this world? Everyone deserves a chance to be who they want to be on this earth. All anyone ever wants anyways is love, why is that so hard to do without the constructs of who you should be and identify as.
Ben Jones
The first piece I'd like to discuss is Ben Jones. An amazing artist who had a lot of loud and worthy paintings and images in the museum. This specific one is one I had my eye on for a while it was one third from the Juxtapositions #11 (1941) piece. It goes into the stature of power over personal well being. If you look at the overall image it looks like a big cloud over a rainbow in the sky. On top is almost the god, power. Power rules over everything and is at the top. In the middle is almost a block between. Under it are the words spiritual, political, economic, sexual, mental & physical health, etc. and peace. Things that are important in life and matter to ones self. But the issue is who get's the power and who doesn't and what it is that is suffering people to being helpless. Too much power.
Jaune Qucik-to-See Smith
This next piece immediately caught my eye not only for its size but for its massive message. What is an American. And I myself had to pause and think. We are a huge melting pot. There's so much mixture and layers that I myself a normal boring American white girl questioned my own identity. Born on a land that slaughtered millions and took homes of those who've lived here for generations. What is an American? Created upon stacks of money and power that was taken from others and built railroads and sky scrapers and made up structures on ways humans have to live their lives. A made up materialistic culture based off from money, shopping, bingo, Disney channel etc. "Nagel (1996) characterize identity as a dialectic between internal identification and external ascription...identity [is] also as multilayered, with different identities activated at different times (e.g., for Native Americans—subtribal,
tribal, supratribal-regional, or supratribal-national identities)" (Howard 375).
Dawoud Bey
Smokey was my favorite in the exhibit, and same as the tour guide! There's something about this piece that makes you just feel vulnerable. His eyes says a lot about who his is and his struggles, as same with the hands. You can tell a lot about a person from their hands. And in this photograph his eyes and his hands are the only thing in focus. Bey the artist in this piece is exposing the reality of social problematics in society that categorizes and stereotype people. One can look at it as a tough rebellious black man as many do to those in real life, or you can just view it as a man sitting in the park. The point is for people to open their eyes and view individuals as nothing judgemental and just as a person. The artist wants to challenge the viewer and does it very well. This photograph is just beautiful from his fashion to his expression to the focus of the shot to the message of the art, everything just works.
Nan Goldin
This is a look.
I just love her fierceness and
her giving no fucks face.
This photograph is very powerful and
especially the date it was taken in too! 1953 was not a popular time for drag queens and was not accepted by many. And what I love about this photo is the person in the background almost looks disgusted with how Misty looks and she just doesn't care. She knows who she is and her identity. There's so much power in the photo that you can just feel it. Her confidence is so radiant. Today drag queens are so popular and more acceptable now that you even appreciate this photo more. You know that it must've took her a lot to come out in front of others and dressed as a woman. "People develop and change over of their life spans, and
thus that sexual identity may be fluid at some points, more crystallized at others (D'Augelli 1994)" (Howard).There's nothing wrong with this and it's completely normal to change how Back then you had to fight harder to be you. Today we sadly still have that challenge, but it's woman like Misty that we have to thank for standing up for her freedom and speak out against those who don't approve because it's not normal in society.
Larry Frank
Last piece I'm going to talk about is this gorgeous work by Larry Frank. There's many layers to theirs photograph which I love. You have her in the front and her in the painting in many positions in the back. The lighting, the tone, the message it's so beautiful and real. This is how is can feel as an individual who feels bombarded from society. Someone how is down and feels hopeless. Frank in this piece is "deeply pushing into the matter of what it means to be alive." Well what does it mean? It's about being yourself and being whom you truly are. Not staying stuck inside oneself and going down into that deep pit of darkness. Life is about human companionship, finding love and loving one another. Today in the world we've just become so disconnected and unaccepting of each other. It's time to find that love again from within and express it without so that we all can be as one and help each other out.
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