Identity

Identity is definitely a huge part of everyone's lives. It defines who we are. It makes us unique, different from the rest of the world.


The term identity refers to a number of different aspects of a person's life.  It can refer to someone's appearance, for example their skin color, hair color, height, weight, choice of clothing and styling etc. It can be more spiritual, referring to people's religion, culture or ethics. Sexuality is also considered to be part of someone's identity because their sexual preferences, meaning whether they are is gay, straight, bi, asexual etc., define them as people.

Race and gender are considered to be the main parts of an individual's identity.  A person's race is mainly defined by their skin color and characteristics, for example usually African Americans have dark colored skin and thick curly hair, white people often have light colored hair and blue or green eyes and Asians have long almond shaped brown eyes and straight dark colored hair. Someone's gender is whether they are male or female, which sounds simple but people tend to stereotype women as housewives that are only good when in the kitchen and men as jerks who only like sports and drinking, which is quite sad.

Photography is a popular means of exploring identity. From the simplest ID and driving license photos to the conceptual self portraits of various photographers, photography is certainly one of the few media that can reveal someone's true identity. Above you can see a photograph by Ramon Guimaraes, a Spanish artist whose work investigates topics such as beauty and identity, sometimes with an ironic approach.  Using media like photographs, videos and live performances he explores the way we present ourselves to others and who we really are inside.


Reference:


http://www.homesession.org/2_artists/artist_RamonGuimaraes.php