SOCIETY'S PERSPECTIVE

LAYERED IDENTITY

A fine art series exploring personhood and occupation through body language, social class and clothing

Headless person in Suspenders leg raised arm on leg

The 1930's Man

Headless person with Colombian dress with hand posture

La Pollera Descolorada

Headless person in high vis jacket with raised arm

The Keyworker

How do profession and ethnicity form your identity or perception of others?

Paint brushstrokes grey tones and light blue background

Painting of grey Colombian dress with blue background

Painting of Grey shirt and trousers with yellow background

Syblings

Oil painting on board | 41.91 x 60.96 cm

Intrigued by layered identity and society’s perspective, I look into the relationship between profession and ethnicity, focusing on occupation relating to personhood, duality (Bowen & Lowman, 2021), the creation of the ‘self’ for formal work (Bennett, 2025) and statistics on ethno-racial representation by the media (Common Sense Media, 2022). I invite a discussion on the connection between ethnicity and work, forming our identity and its impact on the perception of others. There is typically a singular view on personal identity, often determined by one’s occupation, when in reality, identity is a multi-faceted, ever-changing phenomenon, involving a variety of factors.