¿Quién Realmente Eres?

BFA GRAPHIC DESIGN THESIS MAY 4TH, 2018

This thesis is an exploration of the internal conflicts of cultural identity. The invention of race and the division of cultures causes an identity crisis for people who look differently from the majority of the other people from their culture. Society tells individuals they must identify with the culture that’s associated with their race. Rarely it is acceptable to reconcile race and cultural identification. Who you are will always be something that stays with you regardless of where you live, what you look like, or where you came from.

¿Quién Realmente Eres?  is influenced by my feelings of being lost and isolated in the expectations of society. As a person who presents as White, societal norms and expectations make it difficult to openly identify with the Native American and Hispanic cultures. It’s hard to reconcile these three identities, especially when one is demanded over the others. We live in a world where your skin color defines your culture, and for many of us our skin color doesn’t match those specific categorizations. It’s especially difficult to identify with more than one culture.

¿Quién Realmente Eres?  displays our cultural identity in three layers: how we define ourselves, the way our friends and family define us, and how society defines us. By looking through three different colored lenses the viewer will be able to see each layer. Without the colored lenses, the information will not present itself clearly. Each color represents a different part of us that is shown or not shown. Only by seeing through each lens will the viewer then fully understand the whole picture. The work uses techniques and visual language inspired by Carnovsky and Stan Natchez to immerse the viewer in the three identities. This installation provides an experience for the audience to interact with the wall and share their own cultural conflicts as well. Ultimately ¿Quién Realmente Eres?  was created to educate the viewer that an individual’s race does not define their cultural background.