In Judith Howard’s terms of identity she explains greatly of what identity is and what kind of sub identities that come along with it. Howard says that identity is, “ sense of who one is, together with an often overwhelming pace of change in surrounding social contexts” (p.367) From my understanding and interpretation, identity is based off your surroundings your economic and social status and socialization as a whole certain categories that identity fall into our ethnic identities sexual identities gender identities class identities identities of disabilities age identities and etc. I believe that identities are constructed through how you live your life and who you are exposed to. Identities also become helpful because it helps people resonate with individuals who either share the same identity or identities and inform people who are completely obvious to different identities. Howard goes on in her article and he mentions how identities happen to have the ability to change over time. For example in the space and identities section of the article she talks about how in that concept, change has occurred. Within the realm of the internet, many people are able to create many more identities because of this new space. She mentions about how cyber space becomes “another spatial arena“ for the “construction of objective and subjective identities.” (p.383). In that construct, people are able to identify as “gamers”, “social media influencers”, or “content creators” simply because the internet has opened up that option for identity. People are also allowed to participate in forums and create chats/groups that allow people of the same identity to communicate and connect with each other.
Through the “lens” that Judith Howard described, what I saw in the exhibit were many home videos that had an identity. In one of the home videos, it was a family simply spending time together and it happened to take place in the 60s. Aside from the fact that the video was documenting ongoing action from the family, the identity of the family could’ve been many things. For starters, the video was an African American family spending time together in a very small, cramped apartment. Two identities that could be associated with this video would be an ethnic identity and social/economic identity. Another home video I observed was the atmospheric/environmental make of New York City. While wasn’t able to stick around for the rest of the video, what I was able to grasp from it was that it was clearly an observational video. As Howard mentioned, an identity can be a part of, “both geographic and virtual” (p.382). This video gives perspective on what New York would be like if you happened to work, visit/vacation, or live there. A category that this video would fall under would be spatial identity. A final video that I observed was more of an experimental type of film. It was a video of family members posing in front of the camera. It is unknown if they were doing it with some kind of purpose in mind or just simply because having a camera was new for this family. What this can reveal is that they may come from a lower income family. An identity that can be associated with this is class identity. These videos weren’t staged or planned out. While everyone has an identity they tend to “gravitate” toward, in the films/home videos that we’re in the ”Private Lives, Public Spaces” exhibit, it was clear that the people and the videos had an identity, but I don’t think that they intended to be identified by it. These home films showed their most authentic self, which can fall into an identity category that I’m making up as “unidentifiable”. No one in these films intended to be in front of a camera for a larger audience. If they did, they would simply be actors. I think this because the home videos that were in the exhibit were not meant for a public audience. It was meant for the sake of memories that can be kept between family members. It was a time where technology was very new and it became some kind of experiment for those who are filming.
Aside from identities seen in the exhibit, there are many identities seen throughout the museum. I got the chance to explore throughout the mistreat after words and see the different types of creativity that was portrayed in different types of artwork. I was able to buy a shirt in the MOMA gift shop that showed the different identities of the famously known artists in the exhibit.
No comments:
Post a Comment