A sense of cultural identity can emerge in countless forms to exemplify the prominent aspects of a culture. The works in this collection all comment on different environmental, geographic, economic, and social conditions that held significance for the artists as well as the culture they seek to represent. First, Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress inhabits the idea of revising one’s cultural identity as a means of pushing back against the dominant norm of Western European aesthetics. Continuing this theme of pushing back against the hegemony, Aaron Douglas reimagines US history to be more inclusive of minority groups with his The Founding of Chicago. Sakai Hôitsu’s The Rising Sun With Flowers and Diego Rivera’s El Agua Origen de la Vida show how different aspects of nature greatly affect the ways in which people identify themselves with their nation. Finally, the blue and white Qing Dynasty vase speaks to the importance of Chinese ceramics to China’s economic and cultural history. Ultimately, this collection is a reflection of how environmental, aesthetic, and economic components of societies define one’s cultural identity.
Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait in Velvet Dress (1926) by A. Davison
Sakai Hôitsu’s The Rising Sun With Flowers (1820-1828) by S. Logan
Diego Rivera’s El Agua Origen de la Vida (1951) C. Bodnar
Aaron Douglas’s The Founding of Chicago (1930-1933) by J. Savage
The unknown artisan’s vase, Qing Dynasty (c.1700) by M. Badillo