Over 2,000 canvasses are being created celebrating difference for our next exhibition ‘A conversation with Otherness’ in the greenhouse gallery at Guernsey Museum, Candie. We have been delivering workshops all over the island asking people of all ages to use a canvas to create a snapshot of their personal or social identity.
Your personal identity is made up from the qualities that make you unique. These can be thought about in two sections; your public self and your private self.
Your public self consists of:
Your appearance – what you choose to wear, how you style your hair and your recognisable features.
Your style – how you talk, walk, dance and move.
Your personality.
Your private self consists of:
Your thoughts, feelings and daydreams. These are the bits of you that no-one else knows unless you tell them. Everybody thinks in a unique way and art can be an amazing way of showing someone how your thought processes work.
I work in IT. In my work I like to compartmentalise things and draw connections.
In my work I often feel like I’m either outside looking in or inside looking out. Whichever it happens to be I just feel like I’m separate from the crowd.
I am always trying out new hobbies and am hopping from one to another.
Our social identity can be thought about in two ways. It can be about where we are from, our ethnicity and culture and the values, traditions and habits which we have inherited from that. It can also be thought about in terms of which groups we identify with and choose to be a part of. Aspects of our social identity and personal identity are often strongly linked.
I am Dutch and I love my bike but I have been known to ride the wrong way along one-way streets!
I am from Guernsey and you can tell because I say eh a lot.
We are hoping to collect over 2000 snapshots of people’s identity. Can you imagine how they are all going to look next to each other?
We are hoping to spark conversations around identity and what makes you who you are. No two canvases will be the same just as no two people are the same. We have similarities and differences but we believe that is to be celebrated. Understanding how others are different to us can help us understand who we are.
If you would like to make a canvas please come along to a workshop:
20th June, 12-4pm at Beau Sejour
22nd June, 7-9pm at The Cock and Bull (over 18’s)
If you can’t attend a workshop but would like to collect a canvas from us please email antonia@arts.gg
