Group Exhibition at The Triangle - Chelsea Collage of Arts 'Who Are You: The Evolution of Identity In Britain'
Press Release Written and Curated by Nadia Ramnarine
Edouard Glissant stated in Poetics of Relation “…identity is no longer completely within the root but also in Relation.” Glissant likens the formation of identity to a rhizome that feeds the development of new forms of life from a common source. He goes further and instructs that those developments are affected through contact with each other.
Through immigration from around the world beginning in the 18th century and into the present, a multitude of identities have converged here and as a result, Britain’s national identity has evolved. Descendants from diasporic journeys, the Transatlantic Slave Trade and indentured servitude in addition to those who came and continue to come to Britain for economic and social opportunities now inform the ongoing and emerging definition of British national identity.
As Homi K. Bhaba stated in Nation and Narration, national identity means possessing intrinsic rights and responsibilities. Further, these rights and responsibilities are held in common of a “rich legacy of memories” with a desire for people to live together in community that transcends race, language, material interest, geography, and military necessity. National identity’s traditional facets of race, language, material interest, geography, and military necessity and even religion are changing; this exhibition is intended to provoke an awareness of this evolution and encourage discourse surrounding it. It is an exhibition for those who have interrogated the concept of national identity personally and those who wish to better understand its intricacies through visual representation and within the context of British society today.
As such, the following questions will be probed: what is British national identity today? Are national identities formed through an individual’s junction and proximity to another? How do values and ideals of people shape national identity?
Through symbols, scenes, and visual narratives in paintings UAL Fine Art artists will speak about their identity that has emerged from a nexus of historical circumstances. This composite visual narrative will contribute to the continuing study of national identity in Britain.
This exhibition will include paintings by UAL students Unza Saleem who through still images conjures her life experiences and dual heritage, while Dirk Tsai’s depictions bring to focus selfexploration and gender identification. Zehra Marikar incorporates words, motifs, patterns, and touch into her works that tell stories of her experience as a British person of South Asian descent, and Kate Kelly gives space to women’s identities through subjects’ clothes, gestures, and use of space. Each artist shapes and gives face to British national identity through their experiences and work; this exhibition brings them together in one place to continue the discourse on the evolution of British national identity.