Constructing Identity

Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make a person. We all craft

 

our own identity in our lives without even realizing we are doing it sometime. People construct their

 

own identity because they want to be viewed a certain way by the rest of the world. Every thing that 

happens in a persons life is a direct influence on a persons identity. Everything that a person 

experiences and likes play a part in the identity they construct for others to see. This was on full 

display at the Montclair Museum when we all went to see the exhibit, Constructing American 

Identity. Judith Howard describes in Social Psychology of Identities, identity is, “…tenuous, fragile, 

and elastic, rather than as fixed and dichotomous”.

Sandy Skoglund 

A Breeze at Work, 1987

This piece by Sandy Skoglund is titled Breeze at Work and is playing with professional identity in the

photograph. The Photograph includes a man and a woman taking part in a regular work day having 

an interaction with each other. The Room and the subjects close are all the same color and leaves are 

represented in blue all over the office. The contrast between everything and the leaves is striking and 

really makes everything pop. Skoglund is known for creating intricate surreal installations and taking

striking photos of them. She stated that this piece is  "about making the invisible visible" She did this

by making air and its movement visible through "artificially constructed references about movement"

which would be the blue leaves. The leaves make the viewer able to see the air that is always around

and always moving. 

Willie Cole

Silex Male, Ritual 2004

Willie Cole is an artist that is native to Newark, New Jersey and is best known for his assemblage and

mixed media works based on found artifacts. He uses things people would consider trash and 

repurposes them in his art. The piece at the exhibit is a photograph of himself as a tribal specimen. 

Here the artist used the pattern from an iron to make a head dressing and brand himself all over to

make it look like he is part of a tribe somewhere in the world. The piece really looks like a tribal 

specimen until you look close and see the material used to turn him into what he is. I find the result 

beautiful in its application. The pattern works well and really makes him look like he's part of a tribe. 

Cole work is playing with ethnic and cultural identity. He even named the piece after his favorite 

brand of iron, the Proctor Silex iron. The artist is exploring cultural stereo types with this piece. 

Andrew Moore

Untitled Artists, Organ Screen, Detriot, MI, 2009

Andrew Moore's piece of art deals with identity and a sense of place. Moore is an American 

photographer that is known for large format color photographs where he like to capture remnants of 

 

societies in transition through formal vocabulary of architectural and landscape photography. In this 

piece he photographs an old organ in an abandoned theater. You can see the scale of the organ

inside the building and how it was built into the structure. The photograph shows how grand the 

organ is, as well as how decrepit is has become.  His memory of The United Artist Theater which is 

pictured in the work was once as he put it, " a fantasy of color and sound". He speaks about he he had

to break into the old theater for this photograph and how it was in compete contrast in its current 

state. It shows that your identity can change over time. What once was a colorful vibrant place 

became what you see in the photograph, basically no color and falling apart. 

Fahamu Pecou

Rock.Well: Radiant, Pop, Champ, 2010

Fahamu Pecou's painting from 2010 is all about artistic identity. Here he is inspired by an old

Norman Rockwell painting that look almost identical. The original portrays Rockwell painting his

own self portrait while using a mirror as reference. Pecou's version includes himself looking into a 

mirror for reference with added references to himself and the things he likes. You can see his

references to pop culture with images of Andy Warhol, Muhamad Ali, and Basquiat. This image was

 also part of a collection of painting that reimagined famous artist self portraits. The painting seems 

unfinished and certain elements look like they are off, like the bottle of alcohol that couldnt possibly 

stay on that table. Pecou does a great job of showing his artistic identity, from the style he is using to 

the many pop references that are added. This becomes a commentary on the identity of black artist 

and their inclusion and access to the art world. 

Barbara Kruger

Untitled (Seeing through you), 2004-05

Barbara Kruger has a background in graphic design which is evident in the piece shown here. In this

work she layers found photographs with provocative text which involved the viewer in interrogations 

of power and control. The photograph is an image of a woman with green text overlayed saying

"seeing through you". You cant tell if the subject is being seen or seeing.  Krugers ultimate goal is to 

intercept the stereotype or convention by which power is imposed.