Foster: Identity According to Psychoanalysis, Freud and Lacan

1.       According to psychoanalysis, Identity necessitates the internalization of a series of things which are in the first instance external.

2.       Freud furthers the idea of identity with the ego and superego. He defines the ego as the psychic mapping of what is initially a bodily image, and the superego as the introjection of parental authority.

3.       Lacan’s elaborates the notion of an exteriority that is taken within the subject, first in the guise of its mirror image, then susbesquently in the form of parental images, and later in the shape of cultural representations. The “moi” becoming more explicitly dependent upon which might be said to be “alien” or “other”.

Ideas

1.       Make a large photo collage that would make a portrait of a human body. Take a series of photographs of the most diverse people you can find (gender, religion, race, age, citizen etc.). Cut the photos up and use the body parts of each photos to match and create the body parts of the large photo. This should show one body containing all different kinds of identities.

2.       Give each person in a diverse group a small camera that would be attached to them and film their entire day. Edit the pieces together to create a film comparing the different perspectives in how each person relates themselves in to other people or nature.

3.       Have a hologram mirror. The person will stare into the mirror and see themselves, but then another face will be projected on top of theirs. This would challenge the person’s identity to by questioning their self-reflection and awareness of self. The hologram may morph into different multiple versions of their face to challenge the viewer more.