HOW ARTISTS EXPLORE IDENTITY

IdentityIdentity is the way we perceive and express ourselves.

Factors and conditions that an individual is born with—such as ethnic heritage, sex, or one’s body—often play a role in defining one’s identity.

However, many aspects of a person’s identity change throughout his or her life.

People’s experiences can alter how they see themselves or are perceived by others.

Conversely, their identities also influence the decisions they make: Individuals choose their friends, adopt certain fashions, and align themselves with political beliefs based on their identities.

Many artists use their work to express, explore, and question ideas about identity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NICodKeadp0

Gabriel Kuri. Untitled (superama). 2004. Mexico City

Phrenology is a pseudoscience developed by a German physician named Franz Joseph Gall in 1796.

Gall believed that through his studies and experiments he had found what parts of the human brain corresponded with certain skillsets and personality traits, and that these traits could be determined by the shape of ones cranium, which corresponded with the shape of the brain.

The traits in question were quite specific and defined in a way that was aimed at figuring out every possible combination of actions that a human could take.

Physiognomy

The art of judging human character based on facial features

Physiognomy has its roots in antiquity. As early as 500 B.C.,

Pythagoras was accepting or rejecting students based on how gifted they looked. Aristotle wrote that large-headed people were mean, those with small faces were steadfast, broad faces reflected stupidity, and round faces signaled courage.

physiognomy— became popular again in 16th-century Europe, as physicians, philosophers, and scientists searched for tangible, external clues to internal temperaments.

physiognomy—from the ancient Greek, gnomos (character) and physis (nature), hence “the character of one’s nature”

In the early 1600s, Italian scholar Giambattista della Porta, considered the father of physiognomy, was instrumental in spreading ideas about character and appearance in Europe.

He made an analogy to the human essence, suggesting that one could deduce an individual’s character from empirical observation of his physical features.

Illustrations in the book depict human and animal heads side by side, implying that people who look like particular animals have those creatures’ traits.

Images like these were powerful, and illustrations, sculptures, drawings, and other visual forms were key to the spread of physiognomy and its strange ideas

Leonine specimens: Illustration in Giambattista della Porta’s De humana physiognomia (Naples, 1602). The Getty Research Institute, 2934-552

18th-19th CenturyThe influence of physiognomy can be seen throughout

18th- and 19th-century European art.

In the 18th century in particular, natural philosophers embraced the “ideal” features found in classical sculpture

The assumed cultural superiority of ancient Greece became attached to these features, which were adopted by European artists and depicted again and again.

“Others”—such as Asians and Africans—were less not only less beautiful, but less moral.

The expression “stuck-up” comes from this time, when a person with a nose bending slightly upwards was read as having a contemptuous, superior attitude.

■ Today, scholars are still studying the science of faces and how different traits, features, and expressions affect us.

■ For example, it’s well established that faces with rounded contours attract us, because they signal childlikeness and evoke parental instincts.

■ We even have a tendency to view “baby-faced” people as less likely to commit premeditated crimes.

■ Unfortunately, if you’ve got an angular face, you’re probably a criminal.

These beautifully executed studies of the human form are the work of artist Dimosthenis Prodromou

Figure paintings by Beata Chrzanowska

Caravaggio. David with the Head of Goliath, 1610

Artists often explore the characteristics that determine our personal and social identity.

They construct a sense of who we are as individuals, as a society, or as a nation. They question stereotypes and conventions while exploring attributes such as gender, sexuality, race, nationality and heritage.

Our culture is informed by various forms of artistic and social endeavor such as technology, politics, style, music, performance and the arts.

‘Cultural studies’ emerged in the late 1950s and has been informed by radical approaches such as Marxism, feminism and semiotics.Robert

MapplethorpeSmutty 1980

Photography

While some photographers reinforce celebrities’ public personas through carefully structured portraits, others have sought to uncover and capture something of the real, unguarded person behind their public image.

Mathew B. BradyPresident Lincoln. 1862

Richard AvedonMarilyn Monroe, actress, New York1957

Half Indian/Half Mexican, James Luna, 1991

Lorna Simpson. Guarded Conditions. 1989

Cindy Sherman untitled film still #50

August SanderPastrycook 1928Gelatin silver print on paperAugust Sander, who photographed individuals and

groups of people that he then classified according to their occupations and position in society.

Amongst these categories were The Skilled Tradesman, which included iconic portraits such as Bricklayer 1928 and Pastry Cook 1928.

Dorothea LangeMigrant Mother, Nipomo,

Californiagelatin silver print 1936

Lorna SimpsonWigs1994

Wigs is a collection of hair pieces, depicting everything from Afros and braided hair to blond locks and doll wigs. The twenty-one panels of wigs and seventeen smaller text panels are printed on felt—itself a material with hair-like texture. Affixed to the wall with pins, the images and text look like scientific specimens.

Simpson’s work often investigates the history of African American hairstyles and conventions of beauty. From stigma against black hairstyles to reclaiming natural hair as a sign of black empowerment, hair has taken on a variety of social and political implications

Mariko MoriStar Doll (for Parkett no. 54)

In Star Doll, Mori explores how images of women are presented through the media and through celebrity figures. Star Doll is an 11-inch-tall figurine that sports short pink hair, headphones, white go-go boots, and a plaid miniskirt.

Imagined as a celebrity who lives in a cyber realm, the figure is a fantasy that reflects Japan’s obsession with technology. As Mori once said, the character is “someone who needs to be created.”

Most WantedTo make the Runaways series, Glenn Ligon asked

friends to write description of him as if they were reporting a missing person to the police.

Work with a partner. Without sharing, write a list of words to describe yourself on a sheet of paper. Choose five words to describe your appearance and five words to describe your personality. Have your partner now write five words to describe your appearance and five words to describe your personality.

Write. On two sheets of paper write at the top “missing”. Include your picture. On one sheet of a paper you will write the words written about yourself and on the other the one written by your partner.

Compare. Trade the descriptions you wrote for each other. How does your first list of words compare to the description your partner wrote? What surprised you?