Cultural theorist Stuart Hall once asked, "how much do we retain,
and how much do we give up of our cultural identity in order to be
ourselves?" In Susan Maco Forrester's latest art exhibition, Identity - and presented as part of the Midsumma Festival - she explores these ideas and looks at how we go about forming our identity and the importance of knowing who we are and where we came from.While someone's personal identity can often be difficult to define in its most simplest terms, in Forrester's case it is understandable. Forrester is a GLBTIQ woman of Somali/Scottish heritage with her family coming to Australia as '20 pound poms' in 1974. Furthermore, Forrester's mother was also the first Somali woman to settle in Australia. "I have been reflecting whilst installing my show, about how much of my identity has developed from myself and how much has been put on me, so to speak," she explains. "Growing up I had often felt like I lived on the fringe, not really wholly belonging to Western or African cultures. What I have found interesting, is that in my experience, identity is not something that Anglo Australians think about in describing themselves."
"Identity is a concept that is thought of for others, so for someone like me, of mixed Celtic and African heritage, who lives in Western society, often it is only my African heritage that is seen as my identity. However, already being used to being a fringe dweller really helped me when i 'came out', so I guess my idea of my identity has been formed by and strengthened by living on the edge of, and having one foot in a few camps."
