number 706 I am a collection of material with ‘potential’. My base substance is formed from parental genetic material plus any congenital anomalies. Thereafter, social and environmental conditions (experiences, events, things witnessed) become inscribed on my psyche and determine my behaviours/psychological rules for living. One is not conscious of what the developing mind sublimates – which raises the question, how far are thoughts and actions one’s own or the product of structural influences? I feel that I am largely shaped by the temporal context, which can be unnerving because it’s difficult to describe who you are, but it does enables me to be responsive and to develop. I acknowledge that there is no deep identity truth that I have to identify with but rather an unbearable truth that I have to learn to live with:- the ‘big Other’, a void (it is explained differently by various philosophers, psychologists, theoreticians). Ethel Adnan said, “Your identity is your prison”. Being human (having a conscience) comes with consequences. inspired by Anne Stansfield
number 703 Perhaps J.L. Borges ‘the garden of forking paths’ as a starter on that, given the nature of the medium through which we’re communicating. inspired by Om Lekha
number 700 Each of us was born in the primeval soup, evolved and are linked to all the creatures and tribes on earth and probably beyond. Yet we are all unique within that commonality. That is what I celebrate and wish to communicate that is what makes me, me. inspired by Maz Jackson
number 697 I believe creativity is everywhere in everything I love being on this planet I have a family I cherish belong with and along with this the arts this is my salvation. inspired by Veronica Milsted
number 696 I would like to say my essence, which remains the same, but also my life experiences. In parts I have crawled through darkness and have finally found the light and the immense joy of being a mother, artist, teacher and lover. inspired by Mimi Katuschka
number 694 What makes me/me is the culmination of my experiences with the world outside and the world inside. A constant flow of information, choices, decisions, feelings and human nature. The balancing of what I interact with that is outside of myself and how I react internally and also externally to that interaction. inspired by Aillia Fuego
number 693 Going to art college allows you to talk yourself into things I find. So three decades later, I’ve been to business school studied marketing, economics and statistics and worked in data science but painting has kept me looking at the world. It has kept me in the present. It’s now time to get more balance in my life more painting and less working. I love ‘working’ putting my mind to things. I lost my sight through stress a couple of times, it all came back thankfully. The ophthalmologist said you can see colours most people can’t see, it’s rare. That’s a good reason to do more painting. I hope that will do, I’m a man of few words. You see my output not what I drone on about. inspired by Tim Waskett
number 692 May sound a bit crap but I have had a lot of life tragedy that could have made me get out of life. So my wife and kids have made me/ me. Teign Ginger Bread Man
number 691 I am over anxious, try to be kind. Honest to a fault and expect the same of others. I am hypersensitive and have a deep sense of faith in something unknown. inspired by Julie Lawrence
number 690 What makes me is my formative experiences, the sounds, sights and smells growing up close to Glasgow’s Govan shipyards in the 60s and 70s; the demolition of the tenements; the warmth and love of a matriarchal household, (my mother and grandmother) and attending from 11 years Saturday morning art classes at GSA. inspired by Patricia Mackinnon-Day
number 689 Having grown up in the country, travelled the world. I took two art degrees. Now aside from designing and making the odd tool, my art is all about trees. I carve spoons, spatulas, crochet hooks and small bowls. All from British hardwoods. I feel hedge laying is a form of 3-D sculpture as you tame a wild growth into a stock proof barrier aided by stakes and binders. inspired by Bob Thomas
number 686 My historical circumstances, childhood conditions, genetic inheritance — that’s about it. Same as anyone. If the question was, what do you want to do, mostly, the answer would be more revealing. I want to do what I like. But it’s an illusion and it leads to a form of imprisonment. You can only be “you” in relation to others. There’s a lot of limitations you have to acknowledge consciously. Otherwise you’re trapped in unconscious patterns that mean “you” is much less than it could be. What makes me “me” is whirling around doing this and that thinking it’s an escape from something I ought to be doing, and then gradually I really have to do it. inspired by Matthew Collings
number 685 What makes me /me is the way I perceive my surroundings as viewed from an ever changing and subjective center. The experience of belonging and at the same time feeling displace by this incredible city, where instability and change are my ground. My paintings are the result of thoughts that evolve from that concept, and I am my thoughts. inspired by Manel Lledós
number 683 There is no continuous self. The ego tricks us into the belief in ‘selfhood’. Everyone’s idea of who they are and who other people are is entirely generated by their own mind/consciousness. The true mystery is that when I point to myself I point towards my chest and my heart, but not my head and my brain. ‘I’ am located in your brain, your mind. inspired by Simon Lee
number 682 Hmmmm I think maybe it’s the people around me that make me, me. I am the me who they need me or want me to be. Or maybe it is my past, my experiences that make me, me. My thoughts, my intentions make me. I am the me they see… inspired by Khyati Koria-Green
number 680 I try to do too many things at once. I still think I am young, have only just acknowledged I am 81. I think I depress people because of my subject matter, but maintain a sense of humour and don’t think I am the centre of the universe inspired by Margaret Harrison
number 678 I think that what makes me me is my automatic turn up the volume of my voice when I get excited of the ongoing conversation; it comes from my grandmother, the same tone of woman that had to fight with her father for her right to study and with her husband for her right to work.
inspired by Stefania Zocco
number 677 My simple answer to a very complex question… I made the decisions that I made given where and when I was, and the influence that was around me. inspired by Paige Prier
