Who Am I?

wHO AM I?

For my self initiated project I wanted to explore more about my Arab identity, focusing on what is the clash between cultural identity and personal identity in Saudi Arabia. After experimenting different ideas and visuals, I asked people to anonymously to respond to “What’s an identity clash you’ve experienced between your cultural & personal identity as ‘A Saudi’?”. The recurring sub themes I found were: Expressing yourself, Setting your own rules, Mother tongue, Ethnicity, Culture expectation and norms.

By connecting recurring themes, I decided to focus my visuals on ‘following their dreams’, in specific, their jobs. After analysing the results and understanding what they are trying to say, there isn’t a fight within ourselves, as these two parts makes us who we are. Instead of changing who we are for society, it should be accepting us, with no criticism.

In my visuals, I decided to overlay what job they are currently doing over what they dream about doing which are based on true stories. I experimented with different layering and collages to be able to see what works best. Since the images were done digitally, I managed to create new colours as well as shadows to show the ‘clash’ between their identities.

For presentation, they will be printed on the acrylic glass to show the transparency of what they hold inside, having the audience look straight through it. The medium expresses the concept of how Saudi has brought those issues to light and are solving them to create a better community for 2030 vision. They are not ashamed of what they have become, they are the stories for those after. The white wall and light passing through the images will show the layers and shadows of what lies within.