Mäsklighetens Maskerad : The act of appearance

Sammanfattning: Identity is a concept discussed in many different areas and there are a lot of perspectives and theories around what it consist of and how it comes to be. But it is also a word seen and used in our daily lives in the form of self-image and self-esteem. Professor Beverley Skeggs notes that we can talk about identities in plural rather than in singular due to the context. From that we are children we intuitively explore who we are by playing and role playing and our identities and self-image is influenced by several factors. How we then appear to the world has an important role. The Swedish professor Margareta Melin tested the importance of physical appearance on her students which the results showed that different appearance got different responses. By changing our body appearance we can also change our self-perception. The things you wear have an effect on how you will act and appear. It may be that your choice of appearance is an expression for someone you wish to be or an alter ego. A concept that many artists investigated, e.g. Olivier De Sagazan. The appearance of ones body becomes like a masquerade of the human social life. Where we in the one hand confirm the roles and expectations we have in society, and in the other trying to find our own core in who we believe and feel we are. Jewelry have had and still has a big role in relations to the human identity and communication between people and societies. It also has the potential of being an interactive medium for the wearer. In my project I am exploring how physical attributes, jewelry, changes the self-image and how we as individuals, together with our surroundings, construct identities by the way we appear to the world. I’ve explored how objects we dress ourselves with can function as instruments for transformation to become aware of our body-appearance.