Identity Lecture

Identity Lecture
Theories of Identity.

Essentialism
biological make-up cannot be changed although postmodernist theories disagree with that,

Physiognomy
Phrenology
Informs how people read, identity and who you are.
The idea that in a typical balanced human you have equal parts of the brain broken down in what the society accepts as normal. If your animal is bigger than your domestic part you are accepted as abnormal by society. And therefore throw the whole proportion of the brain.

 











Cesare Lombroso- He is the founder of positivist criminology the notion that criminal tendency are inherited.

Physiognomy legitimising racism
This suggests superiority of Anglo-Teutonic. Linking back to the face shape and the idea of intelligence.

Chris Ofili, Holy Virgin Mary 1996
He paints the virgin mary, this appeaered in the sensation exhibition in 1997.  This was insulting to christians and that it suggests other than a white European.

Historical phrases of identity.
Pre modern identity - personal identity is stable - defied by long standing roles. Institutions determine identity. You get secure identities which are tied to which you cant escape from these bounds in society.

Modern identity - modern society begin to offer a wider range of social roles. Within space of forty years you have 3 keys text of modernity by Baudelaire which introduces the concept of the gentleman stroller. Veblen talks about conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure, and good that mean something to other and showing it off. This is the idea of class structure he is saying that if you can show off what you are wearing that you don't have to go to work to be like that.
Simmel identitfies the fahsion cycle and that there is collection and everyone has to have it. This is the triple down theory, they wear a certain type of things which symbolises there class. The upper classes want to keep them higher than the low but then the lower class buy cheaper items of what they wear so the higher class wear something new and this is then a continuous cycle. The mask of fashion is also another theory this is the idea that you hide behind what you are wearing.

George Simmel.
Edvard Munch - evening on Karl Johan.
You start getting aleination within society with the a vacant expression on their faces. He goes on to say about the speed of modernity.

Post modern identity

Foucault
He is a key thinker in this analysis and believe that identity is constructed out of the discourses culturally available to us. It is a set of recurring statements and this mean you can categories them and leads to stereotypes of people.

Possible discourses:
age, class, gender, nationality, race, sexuality, education, income etc... Although these can change and the list can be endless.

The ones we want to consider is class nationality race/ethnicity & gender or sexuality.

Gender/sexuality
This is based around a history of middle to upper class heterosexual men. So to be non white European upper class then you will be passed out and set aside the boundaries. This will be referred to as the otherness.

Class
To known the class you fit in you need to know what the other classes are.
Humphery spender/mass observation - work town project.


There idea was they wanted to observe Britain living and playing. They go to Bolton to document this for a few days. All these are upper class and they don't have to go to work. But then how much is this analysing the living or just dividing upper class again.

 


















Children playing
loaded assumption of working class people at work due to the choice of toys.






Martin Parr - The Last Resort
These are taken in Brighton, this could be classed a contra sending as on holiday and sun bathing in litter.

Ascot
He is documenting ascot where people get dressed up for the day but also has this off set focus on a large woman as she is drinking champagne and split it down herself and therefore is it showing lower class trying to be upper class.

Highland rape collection (Alexander McQueen)
Using tartan and chain mail. The use of the word rape is highly emotive. He claims this is not about rape even though the model are covered in blood and stagger up the catwalk, but he says its about the rape of Scotland by England.

Vivienne Westwood - Anglomania collection
The idea of culture appropriation. 

Las Vegas
Is it really American identity or is it using identities of other countries to build up the City.

 

Chris Ofili- No woman no cry

His the first important black painter of art, He was a street artist in New York by Andy Warhol. He parents are from Jamaica, but he likes to show perceptions of black people. It has reference to the black culture and colour scheme is very Jamaica culture. This refers to the murder of the black student and some images of him appear in the woman's tears. Gives a voice to black culture which hasn't happened before.

Captain Shit
No black superhero, so he came up with this idea.

Gillian Wearing
She went round asking people to say what they wanted to say and got them to write them on pieces of paper. She picked up the ideas of witty and things that say something about society. Is it playing to stereotypes of black men been well hung.
 
Emily Bates
She bases her work on her been Scottish and been red headed. She ends up making this work from her inspiration on the Mary Magdalene portrait, she collected all her hair from hair dressers to make this dress.

Cindy Sherman
Film Stills
Women are in films to look pretty for the consumption of men, she dresses herself up and places herself in context of typically stereotypes of films.

Tracey Emin
Everyone I have ever slept with
The embroidered names within the tent are not just people she has had sex with but also if she has stayed in the same bed as them but society takes the title in a different way.
society will say she is a slut because she has had sex with all these people but a male would be praised if he did this. As women are viewed very differently.

 


Gillian Wearing - Lynne
her t-shirt says i may not be brilliant but i have great breasts. The wet t-shirt is objectifying stereotypes.

 

Kruger - I shop therefore I am
She herself is a feminist artist and gets criticised for this as she is becoming corporate in which she was defending before.