Patricio Forester, I'll never be a local. © the artist.

Matt Gaw ventures into Hove and discovers some interesting perceptions of identity and self - at Hove Musem and Art Gallery.

An examination of identity was something that kept long-dead philosophers busy for most of their lives. The Scottish thinker, David Hume, once described the self as “nothing but a bundle of different perceptions”.

It’s this bundle of perceptions, and the identities and people associated with them, that are currently being explored at the Hove Museum and Art Gallery until March 5 2006.

Self has been a project in the making for two years, involving Craftspace Touring, Angel Row Gallery, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery and no less than three community organisations from the Birmingham area.

The exhibition features work by an international group of artists and makers investigating the notion of belonging and our sense of who we are.

Andy Horn, co-curator with Yasmin Zahir from Craftspace Touring, explains: “Self encourages us to think about ourselves and how we see other people, to value our differences and celebrate our shared identities.”

“Through photography, jewellery and installations the artists make personal responses to what we wear and how we look, offering many different cultural viewpoints.”

Esme Patrick, Making Links © Action Research Projects

Patricio Forrester’s installation, I’ll Never be a Local suggests a distinctly ‘foreign’ viewpoint. A collection of tailored jackets are embroidered or daubed with the same message in different languages: “You are not even British”, “You are not even American”, “You are not even Spanish”, etc…

The work, inspired when the artist was jostled by an angry crowd, questions who we are, when we claim that someone does not belong. Each dapper jacket asks what it is to be – well…anything!

The exhibition suggests ways in which we use objects to tell something about ourselves and others. It raises questions about how personal identity is communicated to others and to us as viewers of the exhibition.

It’s not surprising then, that the ring – that symbolic and intimate object – takes pride and place at Self. Gerd Rothmann (cor) uses people’s fingerprints on his jewellery, bringing the wearer closer to a loved one.

Karl Fritsch, Ruby Ring. © the artist.

On the other hand (no pun intended) Karl Fritsch’s re-claimed rings feel almost sinister – lined up in row upon row, forlorn and fingerless. Even with their bright wax they conjure images of the abandoned piles of belongings confiscated by Nazis in the holocaust.

The meaning of Wax Models is not meant as a comment on the atrocities of the last sixty years, but rather to document the life and journey of their now absent owners; the wax is marked with the experiences of each traveling finger, the memories of an identity.

The exhibition also offers moments of real warmth. Martin Figura’s (cor) photograph of his daughter Amy (Amy’s Room), who has Down’s Syndrome, shows how one photograph can successfully capture an identity, a story of self that is closer to Disney than disability.

Figura has also photographed his son Sean. A photograph taken every month in Sean’s teenage years reflects the gradual changes of his body and the growth and change of his identity.

Ken O'Hara, One 1. © the artist.

In the same space are the imposing portraits by Ken Ohara. These looming photographs, a selection from 500 taken in 1970, entitled ONE, present us with an unusual view of our fellow human beings.

Staring directly into the eyes of another, following frown lines and smiles – issues of race and culture evaporate. Ohara describes the work as “a celebration of our individuality” the size of the pictures allowing our differences to be enhanced.

The giant portraits are strangely reminiscent of Yoko Ono’s Bottoms: a film of her friends’ naked bums. Her idea was that a bum, after a while, stops being a bum and becomes just a wobbly thing on film.

The same can be said of Ohara’s photos (not, of course, that they look like bottoms). The striking feature is not so much one of difference, but similarity, of symmetry, expression and shape, regardless of culture or race.

Martin Figura, Amy's Room. © the artist.

A wonderful mixture of identities and cultures come together in this exhibition – emerging as one wobbly sense of humanity that encapsulates the beliefs, loves and prejudices that make us into the people and, ultimately, the society we are.

Other artists at Self include: Barby Asante, Jivan Astfalck, Ari Athans, Roseanne Bartley, Dinie Besems, Clement Cooper, Joyce Scott, Lorna Simpson and Pamela So.

For the curious (and those of more modest proportions) a selection of hats and clothes allows the youthful gallery visitor to ‘change their image’. Inspired by the Self exhibition, children also have the opportunity to create their own mosaic plaque or mirror frame on February 11.