Group Presentation 2 - Self Identity

Identity is not only about how you are but about who you can relate to, and who can relate to you. Tom Nussbaum is an artist that I came across to have a connection with. His work speaks for him and I seem to find a part in me that understands what he goes through. "Listen" is about a mans subconscious. You have the evil, and the good. Nussbaum makes the left ear stay covered and the right one uncovered. He wants to block the bad energy and thoughts that the bad conscience wants him to do where as the right ear is open to listen to the good thoughts and decisions. Usually the devil is on the left and the angel is on the right. As for his family art work, he wants to show that he has support from his relatives and he gives support as well. As you get older, you will be the one to go down the ladder of people and be the one holding everyone else up. This is very relatable because in my family just like anybody else's, support each other and is always there if anyone needs help.

                                   

A big part of Self-Identity is the idea of “self”. Self too many people could be characters, a face, roots, culture, and a personality. But does it have to be a picture of only yourself? Stacy Renee Morrison is an artist who I feel challenges what it means to show one’s self, and if it has to involve just you. She is a photographer who does “self-portraits” but with a bit of a twist. Her images are directly related to photos and the identity of a woman named Sylvia DeWolf Ostrander but Sylvia is from 1925. They were brought together after Stacy found an old truck in New York City full of items that belonged to Sylvia. After Stacy become interested enough she managed to get in contact with the great-great-granddaughter of Sylvia, who gives Stacy clothes, letters, and diaries to further help her to research Sylvia. Stacy would take photos of herself in Sylvia’s clothing and mimic photos of her, then overlap them so the images were combinations of both women, giving a certain glow to the photos. I found her work to be important to self-identify because it shows “self” is not limited to just you, you can be based on other people and ideas.

                                                                                  

Rembrandt created a great number of self-portraits, and many hypotheses have ascended to why he developed this practice. I found it very unique and peculiar specially because of the time in which he did it, he was born in the late 1606 and died in 1669. I couldn’t stop thinking of how obsessed our generation is with selfies and all the elements that relate to this trend. Rembrandt created self-portraits his entire life, they are a prove of how he grew old. We are able to see the different stages in his life and I find it quite real and honest.