Private Lives, Public Spaces

“Personal identity is the concept you develop about yourself that evolves over the course of your life. This may include aspects of your life that you have no control over, such as where you grew up or the color of your skin, as well as choices you make in life, such as how you spend your time and what you believe” (Study.com).

While thinking about and discussing  identity, there's a lot of things that come to mind. Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? Who are they?  I feel asking these questions starts the process of “constructing” an identity. Constructing an identity is establishing and actualizing who you are. In other words, constructing an identity is shaping who you are based on your values, history, culture, practices, beliefs and what you know. With these aspects, people usually define who they are based on the similarities and differences of other people. From cultural identity, professional identity, ethnic identity, religious identity, and gender identity. There are many different avenues that people travel to define who they are and construct their identity. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to visit MoMA with the class last Friday. Being that I could not go to the museum with the class, I feel I got a completely different experience than everyone else. The exhibit Private Lives Public Spaces showcased random home videos that displayed a little glimpse of the lives of the people in the video. Being that these clips were home videos, I don't believe the people in the videos knew at the time that the videos that were being made were going to be displayed on such a large scale, as a museum exhibit that thousands of people come to see. Home movies are meant to be passed down through generations watching the family to savor memories and relive moments. In watching the videos that were on display, viewers can see very that the subjects are vey diverse and, for lack of better words, natural. With that, it seems that the audience of the videos would be a wide range of people from young to old, light to dark of different identities, but someone that the subject/s in the video knows, or is close to them.

The title of the exhibit is Private Lives Public Spaces and it is extremely fitting for the exhibit. The home movies are intimate moments, grabbed out of people’s lives displayed on a large scale. Diving deeper into that concept, one can relate these home movies to social media. On social media platforms, people are able to post their “identity” or who they are for people to see. I feel like the setup of the exhibit in a way emulates the idea of social media as well. Every video has its own duration, depicting different people, their interactions and shows an identity whether it is false or factual. This relates to me and an individual because I can see how people try to show their “best selves” when it comes to social media and creates this false or altered identity. The videos depict people in their natural state, around people they relate to, so it creates more of a sense of true identity. They aren't thinking about themselves as nothing but themselves, nor what the world or the people around them think about them.