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What I Am As a tribal species humans define themselves through memberships to groups and comparisons to others. We need to join a group. We feel comfortable when we fit in. We need to conform. Conforming signals: I am like you. At the same time distinctive differences are considered a fundamental part of one’s sense of identity. By conforming are we losing part of our identity? Or is it merely a variation? We constantly remake our identity. We re-examine, re-adjust and redefine boundaries. And never more so than when departing. Departure means potential isolation as old networks are being altered or cease to exist completely. In order to establish new networks on arrival we have to be accepted. To be accepted we have to conform to rules we don’t know, often don’t understand and sometimes don’t agree with. Many marginalised individuals and groups see assimilation as the key to acceptance. But the differences might be lost as a consequence of integration. The basic need to belong and fit in competes with this fear and with the need to preserve the uniqueness, the culture and the history that shaped us. On the other hand, if we define our identity in relation to our past and hold on to it we face isolation. View the book of the exhibition |