Identity Claims stems from my curiosity in discovering how we find out more about the people we meet; much more than is shared from just talking to a person.



In Malcom Gladewell’s novel Blink, he describes studies in which random people looked around a subject’s room, collected their impressions about this person through their belongings and drew their own conclusions based on what they saw. Examples of these conclusions were whether the person was conscientious, their level of emotional stability, and openness to new experiences. The results of the study proved that strangers can often end up knowing more about a person than close friends, all from the identity clues found in their homes.



A person’s home reveals a different aspect about that individual on a different level. In a way, we brand ourselves as individuals through our possessions. The things we collect reflect how we would like to be viewed by people we invite into our homes.



Way-of-life debris can be defined as the residuals that we see such as unwashed dishes in the sink, scattered bills, or clothes on the floor. This is a reflection of self from a different angle.



Finally, there are creative steps we take to obtain a certain level of comfort for ourselves. These are the decorative details that reveal personality such as lighting, placement of objects and the overall ambience.



I am interested in all of the aspects that make up our identity, particularly those beyond the expression of social interaction, which are found in the subtle cues that are revealed to us from the spaces in which we live.