Identity Exploration: The Inner & Outer Self Lisa Chui

What is Identity? Identity is a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations (such as national identity and cultural identity). The concept is given a great deal of attention in social psychology and is important in place identity. Dealing with one’s identity, the question often arises: who am I?

Inspirational Identity Artist: Frida Kahlo The art of Frida Kahlo has been the focus of great interest for critics and scholars in the last generation. Kahlo's body and her cultural identity are central to an understanding of her work. Kahlo ( ) was born in 1907 in Coyoacán, a quiet town in the outskirts of Mexico city.

Her father Wilhelm Kahlo, was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who arrived in Mexico in 1891 and married a Mexican native. He changed his first name to Guillermo and worked as a photographer specializing in architectural monuments of the pre-Hispanic and colonial eras. Soon after his first wife died in childbirth, Kahlo's father married Matilde Calderón, a mestiza, a Mexican of mixed European and American Indian ancestry, who was to become Frida's mother.

Frida's awareness of herself as a mestiza is central an understanding of her work. Many of her works deal with this dialectic between her European and indigenous Mexican identities. This is illustrated by her 1939 painting The Two Fridas, with the Frida on the left wearing a white lace dress of the European tradition while the one on the right wears the traditional local dress of Tehuana. A tragic bus accident in 1925 when she was 18, left Frida with a fractured spine, a crushed pelvis, and broken foot. She was to remain partially handicapped and in pain for the rest of her life. This life-changing event set in motion the practice of faithfully recording the painful episodes of her life through her art. Many of her works focus on her pain and the multiple surgeries that she endured. The Broken Column of 1944 shows her wearing the backbrace that appears regularly in her paintings:

Kahlo married Diego Rivera ( ), the great Meixcan muralist, in They had a complex relationship defined by mutual admiration, painful separations and reconciliations. Her identity as the wife of the "great artist" was another theme in her work.

Frida Kahlo Artworks

How Will You Explore Your Identity? Through Mask Making

Mask Making History Masks were traditionally made to ceremonially be used to communicate with spirits or supernatural beings. Originally masks were created not as art objects but objects that came with an incredible amount of sacred power. Some were made to heal the sick. A shaman would create a mask symbolizing his journey to and from the spirit world. It is in this tradition that we will be creating our own mask; we will be acting as our own shamans healing ourselves in the process! This particular mask will depict your inner and outer self!

Materials: Plaster bandages cut in approximately 3 to 4 inche strips Vaseline (petroleum jelly) Hair band or clip Towels Acrylic paints Glitter Glue Glue gun Tissue paper Pens and markers Magazine images Embellishments: feathers, sequins, yarn, paint brush, bottle caps, found objects, etc.

Mask Making Procedure: For this project, you will be acting as your own shamans healing yourselves in the process. This particular mask will depict your inner and outer self. Instructions on how to cast your partner’s face: Work with a partner and cast each other’s face. In the end, you will be working on your own cast face. Model will push hair back off of their face (tie up hair or use a headband if necessary). Model will put Vaseline over their face placing more around the hairline, eyes and eyebrows.

Cut plaster strips ahead of time. Dip in warm water and smooth over your partner’s face (there is a side with more plaster on it — place this side up). Add three layers over entire face, using the overlapping technique. Reinforce the nose area with extra strips. When the mask feels like it’s pulling on the face (approximately 20 minutes) model will wrinkle and crinkle face until mask loosens up, it is time to remove it.

Outside of Mask Design and paint your outer self (how others see you based on your appearance). Feel free to use materials that will assist you in representing yourself and conveying your message about yourself (feathers, jewelry, gems, silk flowers, sequins etc.). Pay attention to the colors you use and what they represent.

Inside of Mask Design and paint your inner self (your secrets and how you see yourself). Using acrylic paints (include all that embodies what goes on inside your head, showing the side of you the outside world does not see. You can write words/sentences, or paint motifs that symbolize your inner feelings, etc.). Pay attention to the colors you use and what they represent.

Varnish entire mask (protection coat) Written Component In a page (double-spaced, using font size 12), explain and describe your mask. Tell me about your inner and outer self, the messages you wish to convey, what the colors, materials and motifs represent, etc. The purpose of the written component is for you to share with me what you might not want to share in front of the class.

Color Theory

Mask-making Examples : The Inner & Outer Self