James Luna And Opie Essay On Identity

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A dictionary defines ‘Identity’ as “the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another.” William Shakespeare once wrote, “We know what we are, but not what we may be.” Gandhi preached, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Everyone who is born into this world spends everyday of their lives discovering themselves; discovering their identity. When we depart this world, we all leave behind our own sense of identity and any commentary we see fit to describe it. Two artists in particular work with their community to discover themselves and strive to alter the definitions of identity: James Luna and Catherine Opie. Luna works to rectify and teach the discrepancies of his historical identity while Opie works to alter the future perceptions of identity all together.
James Luna’s sense of identity sprouted from his unique and remarkable understanding of his nationality and through his art he hopes to rectify the American idea of what ‘being an Indian’ means. Luna looks back to traditional forms of art in hopes of refocusing Indian artists
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For example, The Artifact (Robertson 40) Luna demonstrates the importance a “real” Indian by displaying himself and challenging his viewer to reconsider what they know to be an Indian artifact compared to his cultural and emotional scares that he exposes on his bare skin and on the cards that lay beside him. In one of his performance pieces, Take a Picture with a Real Indian (SmithsonianNMAI), Luna explores his audiences sense of what they believe a real Indian should look like by which outfit they choose to take a picture with him in. Luna creates this reality of how history has played out and works to recreate the knowledge and culture that he believes has been

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