Lost in Identity : - A case study of three jewellery practices andhow they can function as codes of identity

Sammanfattning: During a major part of modernity the concept of identity was something that in many ways was predetermined for the individual. People in general remained in the same social spheres as the generations before, shared common religions and beliefs and where more or less bound to a geographic area. Identity and lifestyle was something that was adapted quite unreflected from habit and tradition. Though, during the cultural modernisation process that took place in the twentieth century, previous shared patterns of interpretation vanished and became individual.  Finding references, constructing an identity and establishing a self became individual. There was also a shift in the relationship to the objects that surround us. Instead of seeing the objects from a functionalistic view, objects and commercial goods also became representations of ourselves that sent out signals of who we wanted to be as individuals. The globalized media society that we have today gives an opportunity where we can pick up elements from different phenomena in society to create an eclectic blend of references as a way to construct our own lifestyle and unique identity. This essay deals with the question of how jewellery can function as a mark of identity. I have investigated three different jewellery practices to see what possibilities jewellery have as a potential communicator of identity. The jewellery practices that I investigated are Bling Bling jewellery within the Hip-Hop culture, jewellery in the Black Metal community and contemporary jewellery art in Sweden. What I found in common between these, at the surface very different cultural expressions, is that they mix different cultural references in a way similar to collage. By doing that they create new patterns of interpretation and codes that can be read by the ones initiated, which creates a sense of belonging and identity. Another aspect of jewellery within these practices is that the wearer or the maker charges the artefact with a meaning. To state either by making or wearing a piece of jewellery that this object stands for or talks about this and then communicate that to the surrounding. And if others accept these values it creates a common code of identity.