constructing identity

What constructing an identity means is to identify and build what makes you you. We build identities through our experiences in life, sex, gender, ethnicity, race and even location as stated by Judith Howard. Part of our identity can change from what based on what happens in our lives, our likes, and what we dislike. Then the other part of our identity that for the most part can’t be changed, like race, ethnicity etc.

Personally for myself, when people ask me who or what I am, I can give multiple different answers. For example, a question I get a lot is where am I from. The answer I usually I give is that I was born in the United States and I identify as an American. Then people usually as me where am I “really” from. My mother is a Mexican woman who came to the United States and became a citizen. She then had my sister and I with my father, who is black. So I guess you can say my parents gave me a racially ambiguous look. Due to the way I look when people ask me “where are you from?”, I know they mean what is my racial background/ ethnicity. I’ve always had this problem with this part of my identity, I don’t identify as Mexican, not because I don’t want to be Mexican, but because I wasn’t born in Mexico and I identify as being American. I feel a little weird saying I am Mexican because I’m not. I have Mexican family, but due to where I was born and grew up I believe myself to be fully American. Also being mixed race I’ve never really felt a part of either of my races. I feel kind of inbetween. My spanish isn’t the greatest, so I find it hard to connect with people who are fully Mexican. I also have been told I don’t “look” black so I’ve never really connected with other people who are black. So overall, since I don’t look fully black, I’m not seen as a black person, and since I look very different from the usual Mexican person, I’m not seen to be Mexican.

From the art exhibits I chose to photograph, the elements that are covered by each artist has to with race, culture and ethnicity. For example Whitfield Lovell’s “Trap” made in 2000, covers the history of African Americans. This piece of art is a charcoal drawing on a piece of wood with several different animal traps hanging from the bottom of it. The drawing itself is based off of a photograph of an African American man from 1905. The animal traps seen hanging from the bottom gives everyone who sees it a reminder how a whole race of people were enslaved and treated as property. Since this piece uses animal traps instead of chains one can interpret this to show how black people were treated as lesser than whites or a something to be owned, like animals and how the people that were enslaved felt trapped way back in the days of slavery.

The second piece is by Dawoud Bey. It’s called “Smokey” and was made in 2001. This piece is a portrait of a black man. Dawoud Bey is know for taking photos of urban youth. He says he wishes to explore “how young people see themselves through the lens of race, gender, class, and culture.” The photo itself is of a young black man sitting on a park bench while drinking a beer. The man is also wearing a very eye catching shirt. I feel this photo is to see who this man is as a person and not as stereotype or how society generalizes the black community.

The third piece is “Bernabe Mendez (Spiderman), 2007 by Dulce Pinzon. This piece is a photo of a Mexican Man who immigrated to the United States. Pinzon and Mendez are both hung on harnesses on a high building in New York City, and Mendez can be seen doing his job as a window cleaner. The purpose of the photo is to show the extents that hard working immigrants go to make their money. He is wearing a Spiderman suit because he is a hero, maybe not to the general public, but to his family back in Mexico, who he supports by sending money to every month. Bernabe Mendez is just one of the many heroes of the immigrant community, and these immigrants aren’t just heros for supporting their families, but also for how far they go to support their families.

The fourth piece is “Family Totem”, 2003-03 by Tom Nussbaum. This piece is a sculpture of five figures of people standing on top of one another. Each person have different skin colors. From blue to brown and a caramelish color, this is to signify the many different races and types of people that make up communities that rely and support each other.

The fifth piece is “Model, Moses-Soyer Studio, 1957 by Larry Fink. The piece is a photo of a model that Fink took at the young age of seventeen years old. This photo was originally in a portfolio “Making Out”. The other photos in the portfolio shows groups of people interacting. But the photo that Fink has just the model in the photo by herself. Fink believed that there was companionship even when in isolation. Even though the model in the photo is alone it looks as if she is still accompanied, not by a person, but with her own thoughts and feelings.