13 february
I attended visiting lecture by Elena Reynolds, that was discussing her personal family story and its implication in the postBrexit Britain.
Her presentation brought to surface some long buried and forgotten feelings and emotions. Actually I had one of the strongest reaction and emotional outburst I had in years. I am aware this reaction is seeded within, based on micro-hostile interactions i experienced since the Brexit vote night.
I have decided to stop all my work and reflect!
where do I belong?
who is anna?
Charles H. Cooley’s Looking Glass Self (1902) suggests that the self is not formed in isolation. Instead, our sense of who we are develops through
how we imagine others see us.
According to Cooley, the individual and society are inseparable; the “self” is shaped through reflection, interpretation, and the internalisation of perceived judgments.
This idea resonated strongly with me. It made me think about how much of my identity has been shaped by external perception. It also made me question how far I may have adapted or reshaped myself to fit into the society in the UK.
This reflection led to a short experiment focused on the externality of myself. If I sometimes feel like a square peg in a round hole,
I wanted to explore just how much I differ from the expectations or norms of the community I was born into, compare to the community i live in now.
The experiment became a way of examining the gap between who I am internally and the version of myself that i perceive as reflection back to me through others.
this led to series of experiments with palimpsest as exploratory method, abjective experiments with peeling skin and to a series of print workshop.
with this thought I asked ChatGPT to make me look British , Czech and European. There are such a small subtle differences in the outcome ofthis experiment it made me think about my past and how I can explore to uncover it.