Jaisalmeri child has been submitted to ‘Visualizing Your Identity’ on National Geographic.
See the National Geographic photo assignments that Kristian Bertel has participated in – Read the story about his photographs here…
Kristian Bertel has contributed to the National Geographic Your Shot community with an assignment called ‘Visualizing Your Identity‘. For this assignment curated by Kholood Eid, a documentary photographer she wants to know about identity and how we see ourselves in photography.
To make images that thoughtfully convey a concept that is not necessarily obvious at first glance. Asking us to explore what comprises our identity and to show them that in a photograph. The Your Shot community is vast and diverse, but each of us have a unique identity that only we can reveal to them through our photography. We should also explain how we feel the image defines us. We hope this assignment will be a great time to do some self-reflection as you think of creative ways to visualize your identity.
As Kholood is saying it: ”- Identity is among the most ambiguous subject matters a person can explore. Whether it’s looking at an individual’s relationship with him/herself or examining identity in the context of a larger group or culture, the challenge is to make images that thoughtfully convey something that isn’t necessarily obvious at first glance. We’re asking you, the Your Shot community to explore what makes up your identity, how do you see yourself through a photograph. It is an important thought provoking question to ask, who am I? How do I see myself? How do you visualize your identity?”, she says.
Finding yourself in the streets of India
Identifying or feeling of belonging to a group is part of a person’s self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. In this way, cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally identical group of members sharing the same cultural identity.
We create a mold of our cultural identity through the ideas of our parents by adopting a majority of their beliefs at a young age, but as we grow older the different people we come in contact with from different cultures where it be religious, nationality, class, gender, ethnicity and so on help us to shape our cultural identity mold as easily as play-do as we adopt different identities in hopes to understand and learn from these different cultures or out right object them. The divisions between cultures can be very fine in some parts of the world, especially in rapidly changing cities where the population is ethnically diverse and social unity is based primarily on locational contiguity.
It is also noted that an individual’s “cultural arena”, or place where one lives, impacts the culture that that person chooses to abide by. The surroundings, the environment, the people in these places play a factor in how one feels about the culture they wish to adopt. Many immigrants find the need to change their culture in order to fit into the culture of most citizens in the country like India. This can conflict with an immigrant’s current belief in their culture and might pose a problem, as the immigrant feels compelled to choose between the two presenting cultures.
Development in the childhood
Pieces of the person’s actual identity include a sense of continuity, a sense of uniqueness from others, and a sense of affiliation. Identity formation leads to a number of issues of personal identity and an identity where the individual has some sort of comprehension of themselves as a discrete and separate entity. This may be through individuation whereby the undifferentiated individual tends to become unique, or undergoes stages through which differentiated facets of a person’s life tend toward becoming a more indivisible whole. The optimal development of children is considered vital to society and so it is important to understand the social, cognitive, emotional and educational development of children.
”- Increased research and interest in this field has resulted in new theories and strategies, with specific regard to practice that promotes development within the school system. There are also some theories that seek to describe a sequence of states that compose child development”, the photographer Kristian Bertel says.
You might also like:
Assignments and Stories — National Geographic Your Shot »
Caption This – A Photo Assignment on Nat Geo »
Your Shot Photo Community — National Geographic »
Kristian Bertel’s entire gallery on Your Shot »
Showcase of Kristian Bertel’s Your Shot »
Kristian Bertel’s website »
Tags: #india #travel #portraits
Kristian Bertel 