Identification through symbolism

Carrying on from my previous post, it got me thinking about how I chose to look at this male individual as a daily commuter based purely off the fact he was standing and looking at a clock in a suit. Do these simple symbols represent who we are? From an external perspective if we see someone branding a symbol we recognise we often look and assess them based off that association.

Sourced from: http://www.istreetfashion.com/

Initially I went down the path of exploring symbolism, logos and eventually branding. But the corporate world really doesn't say much for identity and who we are as people. So I backtracked to this image, of the woman tattooing the crown onto her lower back. Why wear a crown? Does she see herself as a queen or someone royal? Or is it a pride thing?

Sourced from: http://forbookssake.net/

Pride in national heritage perhaps. Which took me down the line of looking at National Identity which many people love to identify with. Especially with relatively recent news surrounding Scotland voting to break away from Great Britain.

I myself identify strongly with being Australian and in other countries it would be very much the same.

Worth checking out is: http://lourdesdadang.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/australia-cultures-and-identity.html
which talks about Australian Culture and Identity.

Sourced from: http://softboxqueens.blogspot.com.au/

But it's not just the idea of National Identity, but identification through symbolism. Flags, Footy clubs, Universities, Communities, Online clans, Body art all count as some form of symbolism that we identify with. 

Sourced from: www.trbimg.com

The power of being able to hold up an image or artwork and say "this is mean" comes down to the old phrase. An image speaks a thousand words. Perhaps it's far better to identify through imagery than it is through words.