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British artist Sarah Maple
Many times, people have asked me: "Why don't you do work that relates to your identity?"
The first time it happened, I was a little irritated thinking: "How boring! There are so many things to work on, and I have to resort to my identity?"
All the subsequent times, I just ignored them.
Well, we will never be rid of "identity art"; moderately talented people chewing over the "who am I" conundrum.
But, if I think more deeply about it, I can see where the obsession arises. "Identity art" is mostly practiced by non-Western artists who just cannot make themselves appreciate Western art. To them, like all the malefactors of the centuries - patriarchy, colonization, capitalism, whites, white men, dead white men - Western art is to be discarded for upstaging all those non-Western arts.
So, rather than appreciate, wonder at and be enchanted with the endless stream of art that is readily available, they would rather close the doors, and forever subject themselves to the mind-numbing mediocrity of finding their non-Western identity. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but their products are being sold to us as the real deal. Keep your identity, and your art, is what I say.
Here is one such practitioner of identity art. Sarah Maple, a half Muslim (non-Western), half British artist paints cartoon-like portraits of herself, celebrities, and provocative Muslim women dressed in their hijabs.
She would be half-good if she invested more time in perfecting her painting style, instead of ruminating on her elusive self.
But, she would also be better off if she made up her mind. Although I think that given the high demands of the Western heritage, she would much rather hide behind her mediocrity, and her grievance.