Culture Identity:
As explained through literature
A part of what constructs an individual’s identity is defined by the culture they are a part of. Culture consistently informs the way one views the world and others, therefore it becomes an influential and defining characteristic in the daily lives of many. Many authors have expressed the belief in this through various mediums, such as memoirs, biographies, and poems. Due to there being a direct correlation between the self-identity of a person to culture, a person’s view of the world can alter as a result. Writer Santha Rama Rau emphasizes this theme in her memoir By Any Other Name, a short account of a school experience of an Indian girl adjusting to a new, Anglo-Indian school. As
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This is hinted in the poem, by which the narrator mentions that they’re, “...sliding back and forth, between the fringed of both worlds” (Mora, pg.40). Even though the narrator in this scenario faces problems with finding a specific group to identify with, a relationship between both cultures can be identified, forming a part of who they are. It’s based on the mere judgment of physical traits, and different habits in one’s personal and cultural identity. This division and identification with both groups led to the narrator having a confused outlook on the world. Art can be an expression of one’s inner beliefs and thoughts, and such is the case with the artist Frida Kahlo, whose paintings reflected her set of beliefs and culture. There were various instances which reflected her patriotic nature, such as her clothing, expressions, and symbols included in her art. She brought forth her creative side, and intertwined it with the culture she grew up with and developed her own unique, iconic style. A biographical excerpt written by Hayden Herrera described Kahlo’s way of painting as, “...she transmuted her pain into art with remarkable frankness tempered by humor and fantasy.” (Herrera, pg.34) Her deep ties with her culture proved not only important to how she decided to paint, but how she viewed the world. Although she hid many sorrows and pain, she maintained a cheerful attitude to those around her and a more or less positive outlook in the
One source once stated, “By masking the discomfort, of being pre-judged” (Mora 40). People should examine their culture in order to better understand how it affects their identity and perceptions. In order to understand one’s cultural identity, he or she needs to understand what the term means. According to one source, cultural identity can be defined as “We all have unique identities that we develop within our cultures, but these identities are not fixed or static” (Trumbull and Pacheco 10). Various aspects of a person’s life that may determine his or her cultural identity music, community, family, ethnicity, relationships, religion, clothing, and food. After analyzing several texts, the reader recognizes that four important
In Santha Rama Rau’s story, “By Any Other Name,” she describes her experiences at the Anglo-Indian school to which she and her sister, Premila, are sent when Premila is eight and Santha is five and a half. Because the girls have been home schooled by their mother up to this point they find the transition to their new school strange and disconnecting. Santha’s sister, Premila, is initially willing to try and adapt to the culture and customs of her new environment; however, when a teacher is openly racist, Premila displays an impressive strength of character.
This quote is attached the theme of cultural identity, a term that pertains to the “feeling of belonging to a group.” It is part of a person's
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who caused the arrival of improving the feminist movement in art. She was one of the most debated artists of the 20th century. She grabbed everyone’s attention with her life story and the way her painting represented what was going on in her life. She allowed people to see what was going on in her life. She was very open about sharing her life story with other people. It didn’t matter who they were, she would allow to come into her life with no questions asked. Frida Kahlo mostly painted self-portraits. She enjoyed expressing herself through her artwork, but it helped release all her pain and what she was going through. She didn’t let the pain stay in to cause harm to her. She was so outspoken. She had a
More than 60 years have passed since the death of Frida Kahlo, a Surrealist Mexican painter. Frida Kahlo’s many talents were overshadowed by her husband’s fame during the course of her life. Yet, it wasn’t until her death and the early 1970’s where Frida’s artistic effort started to surpass that of her political and creative husband. Her biography is both depressive and particularly interesting. Many of her private moments and experiences are shared in her greatest pieces of art. Some of those valuable masterpieces contain her cherished possessions, in addition to them being the things that established her popularity and appreciation among distinct genders, cultures and ages around the world. Knowing this, it was in my interest to devote some quality time and effort to this woman whose life immediately captivated my attention and inspired me to understand and endure life as a woman.
Frida Kahlo was one of the most influential female artists in the twentieth century. Being a woman in a misogynistic career, Kahlo did not experience the fame she has today while she was still alive. Through her captivating paintings she reveals the dark side of life, relating to her own experiences. Many articles, bibliographies, movies, and even Frida Kahlo’s diary have been published for scholars, artists, and feminists to discuss the influence Kahlo had on art and society. Although the movie Frida was released forty-eight years after Frida Kahlo’s death, the movie accurately depicts her dismal life and her connection to her artwork.
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s fame only grew larger after her death, bringing her art as well as her personal life into museums, books, and also movies. Through her life Kahlo dealt with various illness, tumultuous relationships, and was even involved in some political movements. Consequently, her art was influenced by all the experiences as seen and felt through her own eyes and flesh.
More than 60 years have passed since the death of Frida Kahlo, a Surrealist Mexican painter. Frida Kahlo’s many talents were overshadowed by her husband’s fame during the course of her life. Yet, it wasn’t until her death and the early 1970’s where Frida’s artistic effort started to surpass that of her political and creative husband. Her biography is both depressive and particularly interesting. Many of her private moments and experiences are shared in her greatest pieces of art. Some of those valuable masterpieces contain her cherished possessions, in addition to them being the things that established her popularity and appreciation among distinct genders, cultures and ages around the world. Knowing this, it was in my interest to devote some quality time and effort to this woman whose life immediately captivated my attention and inspired me to understand and endure life as a woman.
Unlike Diego Rivera, her once-husband, Frida Kahlo painted emotions into her works. She used color and imagery as manifestations for her thoughts and feelings. Her subjects were more than subjects, for they spoke the story of her life of suffering. Things were not merely the things they appeared to be, for they represented emotion that even words cannot convey. Using the subjects of nature, man-made objects, and barren landscapes—reoccurring subjects in her paintings— Kahlo can convey emotions of hopes of fertility, pain, and despair.
(Trumbull and Pacheco 9). Various attributes of a person’s life that may determine his or her cultural identity. After analyzing several texts, the reader
Frida Kahlo’s life was one marked by extreme suffering, extreme heroism, and extreme genius. Nothing ever stopped her. She was a crying heart, however always standing out with her colorful dresses.no matter whether she was in Paris, New York or Coyoacan she clothed herself elaborately in the Theuana costumers of Indian maidens. As much as Frida’s
Frida Kahlo, born in 1907 and died by 1953, was a mexican painter and feminist icon known for her self portraits. Not only is she most known for her work of self portraits, but for painting her traumatic and psychologically painful events from her early childhood all the way to her death. The self taught artist took advantage of her raw talent and mixed it with her personal tragedy to create often disturbing yet intriguing images giving the audience insight to her personal life. Frida Kahlo said “I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.” Kahlo used art as an outlet and transcended her pain onto a canvas to create a visual autobiographical journal of her own life from the painful beginning to the tragic end.
Frida Kahlo's self-portraits are some of the most experimental and innovative that have ever been created. Not only did Kahlo attempt to create autobiographical portraits, but also to explore herself psychoanalytic by painting her appearance, as well as her emotions and thoughts. In this way, she believed that she was revealing repressed thoughts (West 185). Kahlo's self-portraits were a means of therapy for her, and she hoped that, by exploring what she knew about herself in her paintings, she could learn what she did not know, or did not understand, about herself. The resulting self-portraits are extremely emotional and
Frida Kahlo’s art was a tool to convey the woman she really saw. The self-portraits she created were not idealized or meant to be surreal, but an actual representation of her true self. This pure expression inspired my own work in many ways. My desire became to create something with duality, as many of her pieces have, and which expressed my sense of self as purely as possible. There were a few challenges I faced, but overall, using Frida Kahlo as inspiration showed me how art connects the conscious to the primary world.
Using art as a platform for emotional release of traumatic life experiences was not a very common concept among artist. While many artist used their canvases to express religious beliefs, social realism, desires, etc., Frida Kahlo’s work was an autobiography of her life. Kahlo’s paintings served as an open book into the traumatic and emotional life experiences that shaped her as an artist. Of these many experiences and events was her marriage to Mexican art muralist Diego Rivera. Kahlo’s paintings often depicted her sorrow at Rivera 's frequent betrayals. Their tumultuous relationship and the emotional impact they had on each other is portrayed in Kahlo’s 1940 oil on canvas, Self-Portrait With Cropped Hair. Created just a short time before divorcing her husband Kahlo depicts herself seated alone in a chair wearing an oversized charcoal gray man’s suit with her hair cut short. In her hand are scissors and surrounding her on the floor are the fallen hairs from her head. While a formal and biographical analysis of the image reveals Kahlo’s state of mourning, empowerment and freedom from her husband’s infidelities, a feminist analysis reveals Kahlo’s acts towards gaining self-assertion as an independent female artist.