Introduction 

People should examine their culture in order to well understand how it distresses their identity and opinions and also to develop a common sense of belonging to a group. Going on with my Cultural identity theme as previously proposed, I will furthermore discuss my awareness behind the subject matter with emphasis on the varieties of artworks to be archived and rational linkage to the “Cultural Identity” as theme. I will further engage the three artists who tackles subjective identity practically throughout their careers and still doing the same. These artist are Gary Stephens, Latoya Hobbs and Neil Shigley. These artists will transmit to my research methodologies and the types of techniques I would approach and using what type of materials.   

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Often times, individuals are blinded by what they consider “normal,” and therefore cannot understand their own cultural identity. Some people, especially teenagers, have problems with cultural identity. It is difficult for them to identify their culture due to their diverse background or to live in a place where the culture is different from theirs. How many times have people asked themselves, who am I? What defines me?  Culture plays a very important role in the identity of people. People are born in a culture, their family's culture, but not with an already established culture. Everyone has a cultural identity. Knowing where you come from can give you a sense of belonging and a sense of self. One of the main ancestries of cultural identity is its presentation    

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Identity is a self-definition or sense of who one is, where one is going, and how one fits into society. It relates to our basic values that orders the choices we make in life. It is considered that identity crisis is a formation of finding oneself, by matching one’s talent with available social roles. Culture is part of people, but it does not define them. Throughout history different cultures and societies have shaped us to be who we are today despite differences most cultures worked together to get us to where we are in the world today. Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, beliefs, behaviors, objects social habits, music and arts. However, the connotation of culture fluctuates from person to person, as does their own individual denotation for culture. To further define my theme through cultural identity, it is when people and groups define themselves, conform to society’s shared values and contribute to society. It is used in reference of how people from a particular setting lead their lives.

Cultural identity is way more than just the color of your skin or where you were born. The focal points will be more in line with its influences. In my case, my cultural identity can all be surrounded by topics such as race, ethnicity, culture, religion, and fashion. Culture, ethnicity and race are terms that we often confuse and think mean the same thing, but they are actually different. Culture is something we're taught by other human beings. That's how we learn culture, and generally speaking by elders. People who are older than us, that are passing something down, generation to generation. Ethnicity has to do with nationality. Where we come from, so I might be... someone who is Asian, but their different ethnicities would be a Korean person, a Chinese person, a Filipino person. All Asian, but different ethnicities. Race is the most loaded term of all. And that's because race is actually not something that's genetic, although we like to think that it is. It's something that has to do with power hierarchies. We've used race in this country to make one set of people have more privilege and power than another. And that's kind of an ugly little truth that we don't like to talk about. But the reality is race matter and as it matters it will make it easier to unite as the whole world without being judged by an individual presence.

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One cannot have a subject without key vocabulary. Few key words which one cannot leave behind when discussing cultural identity (race, religion and fashion):

Race: ethnic: tribe, dance, food, roots, natural, inborn, expression, look, appearance, young, old, grey, scares, relationship, values, spirituality, beliefs, indigenous, racial, interests, face, birthmark, genetic, body, period, era, born, death, ancient, native, ethnic, foreign, spots, blemishes, culture, respect,

Religion: trust, consider, female, male, transgender, bi, straight, lesbian, gay, looks, masculine, feminine, man, woman, lady, girlish, boy, sexy, homosexual, homophobia, legal, prostitution, rape, violence, heterosexual, superior, patriarchal, distinction, marriage, divorce, commitment, erect, feelings, desire, identity, , orientation, behavior, gender, role, bow, conviction, faith, believe, marriage,.

Fashion: hair, dress, skin, hide, cloths, music, ego, personal, character, nature, individuality, self-esteem, self-image, occasion, celebration, subjective, special, singular, superior, different, extraordinary, selfish, egotistic, gear, altered, hierarchy, statement, style, manner, approach, custom, wear, outfit, dress.

SOCIAL-The role played by my theme socially, is the theory behind it which is responding to cultural confidence. It addresses the Socio cultural factors such as customs, lifestyles and values that characterize a society or group. My works will be engaging with extreme behavior of individuals on a typical cultural identity as an interpretation. Interpretation of (rearing practices, cross cultural differences, cultural denial, cultural identity, culture change, discrimination and ethnic identity, concepts of beauty, religion, social organizations such as fashion, music, food, technology, material culture, values and their attitudes.

POLITICAL-The concept of a political identity can be understood as an inner narrative of one’s political self. It is complicated in both meaning and how it can be visually presented. Our current state of emergencies will attribute to the debate of it. On individual time of intensive analysis and exploration, we radically confronted by the government. Facial mask are compulsory in public, hiding our facial identity, forced to social isolation. By all means the subject matter deals with a sources of self-connection and disconnection. This has become the first-hand cultural identity of the Universe. 

HISTORICAL- There is no Identity without culture, and there is no culture without history, all this are one to understand the role of identity. A person's cultural identity is shaped by many historical factors such as nationality, race, ethnic group, physical appearance, culture, talents, interests, language, and religion. All of these factors may affect one's personality but few of them affect it significantly. The major factors that define one's cultural identity is their physical appearance (age and hair- Fig; 3), ethnic group, and nationality.

 

On my visual and theoretical methodology, I will be considering the following:

Theoretical:

• Acquire a workbook, books, and magazines Fig-3.

• Acquire materials

• Acquire surfaces Fig-1

• Written research-theme reading, writing (artists, vocabulary,), exploring (theme, materials, and surfaces), summarizing information, photocopy (print).

• Brainstorming- work (theme, size, category, restrictions, standard), mind mapping, concept development, data collection, draft sketches.

 

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Contemporary mass culture: My practical work products will be both mass-produced and for mass audiences. One of the good examples will be that it will be mechanically-reproduced art in form of printmaking. The ideal tool will be the printing presses of medium prints and larger prints.

Technology and alternative forms of visual communication: Relief Printmaking is more traditional. So far there will be engaging less with technological effects. Apart from photos and photocopying as reference of the topic. There will be exploration of techniques as an alternative form. My main visual communication will be social media posts, websites, artist’s studios and newspapers.

Alternative contemporary technology and techniques: There will be less contribution of unconventional materials. Alternative materials will only be explored as part of the creative process… More conventional and traditional materials produce best results. The technique can either be labor-intensive or mechanical choice.

Alternative materials: The exploring of mixed media and alternative conventions is more interesting than the final work. It gives you the drive of a process to understand what works and what doesn’t. I will dwell more in mixing the surfaces with different types of liquids forms such as resin, inks, acids, tea, coffee, pigments such as ashes/charcoal, and dyes because they can be easily outsourced.

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My formal considerations will be to explore charcoal, liquid ink and printmaking inks. All of them are traditional mediums and they are predominantly darker in colour which I find so fascinating and making a very bold statement when used. With regards to choices regarding the relationship between subject matter, techniques, media and form of presentation I explore the people of colour being called names and compared to anything really darker such being black as charcoal or black as paint. Those medium relate to the social challenges we face as people of colour on our daily lives.

 

One of the artist’s concepts is that of Gary Stephen, American born and based in South Africa. Upon visiting his studio in Ellis Park studio, I found him working on a mixed media portrait of Letticia Fig-4. The artist works more similarly to Latoya Hobbs. His recent work engages urban African culture. His drawings and collages explores the contemporary trends in the African tradition of hair braiding and scuff styling. Cultural identity of South African women through fashion as his focal point. He uses the culture of daily newspaper readings clips and the floral background as the foundation on his work. I am intrigued by his collages as they dig deeper in different types of medium and making them to sing along. Most of his primary mediums to his collages are charcoal, news print, pastels and paint. Stephens chooses not to highlight the personal features of his models, but explores from various perspectives the distinctively African sense of wearing a duke or scuff with their textile pattern incorporated in most backgrounds. Cultural Identity for him is not facial but through what you wear on yourself.

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Neil Shigley has the same approach but uses the medium of printmaking. The portrait are dominated by gestural lines and black ink on the surface. ‘By presenting these faces on a large scale like Gary and Latoya, we are forced to confront them and the situation that so any like them find themselves’. Here the artist approach to identity crisis is to zoom in the character of life on the streets. The most impact is the homeless people who feel the punch of identity. They are often invisible to the public and here the artist is capturing the real issues of self-problem. The issue of aging which is one of the topic I will be dealing with. The artwork is entitle 'Heisenberg'.

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Latoya Hobbs redefine and sometimes inform others of their identity. She engages the Identity theme by using portraits to explore the intersection of race, beauty and identity concerning women of African descent. She tackles the ongoing dialog about the Black Female Body in hopes to produce a more balanced perception of Black womanhood that dismantles prevailing stereotypes. Consequently, my work, serves as a platform that enables its subject(s) to engage in a visual dialogue with the viewer. In addition to painting, relief printmaking encompasses a significant part of my practice.  The act of cutting away from my matrix (the surface of the wood or linoleum block) to shape an image is synonymous with the way one has to cut away negative ideologies imposed on them by others to expose or embrace their true selves.  In this same sense, Black women have had to cut away the negative stereotypes imposed on them by external forces to express their true identity. In the above artwork, the artist discovers the intersection of race, beauty and identity among women of African descent.      

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Conclusion

On my subject matter, I will be exploring a range of drawings, paintings, collages, print makings and mixed media techniques. I will continue with what I have experimented on and at the same time playing with an attentive methodology to work with different materials or resources available in relation to the encouragement drawn from my explored artists. I will be creating some printmaking and mixed medium drawings with a controlling African portraiture features using shades of black to represent black personality as my fundamental bold statement.

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