Constructing Identity

To construct an identity is to build, to take materials surrounding you to create a better version of yourself. We construct our identities through experiences, emotions, connections, and rejections. Our identities come from our likes and dislikes based on what we see happening in our society. Then there are things we are born with or into, such as race, ethics, culture and gender. My identity today will change tomorrow and the day after that as we keep learning and interacting with the world.  

Race, gender and power contribute a huge portion to one’s identity. For example, I am a hispanic woman, I have disadvantages that other groups may not have, my race and gender already determines my identity. I know that I must be careful in certain areas of the country, I know that I won’t be treated as equally for being a female, and I know that my skin color will stereotype me. All of this affects my identity, it has made me cautious, suspicious, and sometimes mis-trusting of the dominant society. Judith A. Howard, in Social Psychology of Identities, further explains that race especially in african americans can affect their identities. Howard mentions that, “individuals’ prejudices may shape not only their own identifications but also their categorizations of others” then she details, “ Racially prejudiced individuals do appear to be more motivated to make accurate racial categorizations, both in-group and out-group, than do non prejudiced individuals.” (Howard, 369)   The way we are treated based off our race, sex, and class determines not only how we classify ourselves but how we aim to classify those who are different from us.

The best example to this would be Deborah Roberts and her collage titled We heard the thunder, no 5, 2017. Roberts is based in Austin, Texas  who recently had her first solo exhibition at Fort Gansevoort Gallery in New York City. Her works is revolved around beauty and self-image in black women. She combines photographs and different mix media. We heard the thunder  showcases the pain that race and more importantly predetermined  ideas about race causes. Roberts has cut up the image to depict someone who has been broken. Besides race, the artwork also demonstrates how power contributes to someone’s identity. She uses geometric details in the clothing, questioning the power structure  and asking the audience if what they see is human. The girl within the collage is deconstructed, she’s half a person, and the only thing protecting her is her naivete and innocence. The weight of American history towards her color of skin and popular culture have yet to impact her.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s  piece, What is an American? She questions what it is to be American and and how it intertwines with her Native American identity after 911.  She displays a headless figure with a bleeding red, white, and blue stigmata hand. This relates to Judith’s Howards ideology of ethnic identities, during a study conducted she stresses American Indian identities as situational and volitional. Through my perspective, I feel as if Smith’s art piece  has taken back control of the identity they were given, which in long terms have caused their culture pain. This idea of taking back identity can also be seen in Melanie Yazzie’s Thelma and Me, 2001. Yazzie is a professor of printmaking at the University of Colorado, through her art she displays her Navajo culture. In Thelma and Me, she has taken an old newspaper from her community and showcases her grandmother and herself free of the stereotypes. Yazzie’s identity is filled with strong women, friendship, strong bonds, and traditions.

Howard mentions that identity is also defined by interactionism. In Leonard Baskin, Crazy Horse, 1974 he displays dignity and tragedy through crazy horse, who he has honored in this piece. While working for the National Park Service he had become sympathetic towards Native Americans. Baskin was able to better understand a different identity other than his own by interacting with Native Americans  past. Interactionism is better understanding yourself by giving meaning to other people, objects, and behaviors. Baskin has done this, you can see the tiredness and sadness in Crazy Horse's eyes and his face appears to be exhausted.

One of the last pieces I noticed during our trip to the Montclair museum was Cindy Sherman’s, Untitled #402, 2000, she portrays civic identity. Cindy’s works revolve around role-playing and mimics film stills, celebrity shots, history paintings, fashion shoots and portraits. She is usually the one playing these characters. Untitled #402 comes from Head shots which are standard studio portraits of people standing and performing in front of the camera. In Untitled #402 Cindy is dressed up in patriotic clothing, almost perfect but her wispy hairs ruin the attempts at civic perfection. Howard states, “these women communicate, maintain, and repair identities through a ‘rhetoric of review’ that provides ground rules for critical assessments of appearance” (Howard, 372)  The way we look, dress, cut our hair, how we act, and any other physical element determines our identity.

To construct an Identity is to build, our identities are layers of appearances, race, gender, culture, emotions, and all things that affect us. But even with knowing this, we must understand that our identities are changing as our society change. Everyday we interact and learn something new, and this affects us, therefore we will be constantly changing.