Cultural identity

Identity is collectively known as what makes a person. For example, characteristics, beliefs and personality. However, may hold different levels of significance to different people. We try to find our identity using quizzes, tests and questionnaires due to the biological feeling of needing to belong to a community. I was influenced to explore this theme because because of the mix of cultures I experience on a day to day basis. Due to my parents being Ghanaian immigrants and me growing up in Uk my identity has been a mix of the two cultures and has helped shape my individuality. Watching the youtube video "hair love" sparked my interest as this gave me an idea of the importance of hair and how it can build someone's self-esteem as young as a child. This them allowed me to consider exploring the theme of identity and other aspects that can build identity and how this may shape a community. Another subject I briefly studied this theme in was media, where I learnt about David Gauntlett's identity theory and this is about how media discourses can help people build a stronger sense of identity through representation. This will allow me to explore different ways identity is perceived and the ways it influences people for example how the media may construct younger people's identities now as opposed to how it did in the past. Although this isn't a serious issue, the purpose of my project is to raise awareness of the importance of identity as some people may not know this and find themselves blindly following a crowd without knowing their true self. I also want to show an audience what individuality means to different communities. In my work I incorporate signifiers of identity such as passports and fabrics close my own culture to represent different forms of identity and how these may influence individuals.