Art, Identity and Cultural Expression: Reflections from Episode 1 of Voices from East to West
- Alexandria Cameron
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Our new podcast, Voices from East to West, was created to explore how young people understand themselves in a globalised world — through culture, creativity, belonging and lived experience. Our first episode, Art as a Mirror of Identity, hosted by Julie Atoui and Emran Kazem with guest speaker Shaima Bohari opened this series with a rich, layered conversation about the role art plays in reflecting and shaping who we are.
Although none of us claim to be art historians, the discussion raised themes that sit at the heart of cultural intelligence: how people make meaning through expression, how heritage is carried forward, and how art — in all its forms — becomes a mirror of identity.
What follows is an expanded reflection on those themes.
Art as a Language When Words Fall Short
Art allows people to express identity in ways that speech alone cannot. For individuals who move across cultures or live between worlds, creative expression often becomes:
a stabilising force
a method of self-definition
a way of honouring where they come from
a space to navigate what they are becoming
Shaima drew on her background in art history and museum education to explain how art captures tensions between memory, migration and belonging. Art is not merely an object, it is a record of experience.
Culture Shapes Art — and Art Shapes Culture
One of the most important ideas the episode touched on is the dynamic relationship between art and cultural environment.
Art reflects:
social norms
political histories
regional aesthetics
inherited traditions
But art also influences culture — offering new perspectives, challenging assumptions, or reinforcing shared identity. Whether in global cities or rural communities, artistic expression becomes a way of negotiating what a culture values and how it understands itself.
Religious Aesthetics and Artistic Identity
The podcast also compared different cultural expressions of spirituality through art — a theme that reveals more complexity than a short conversation can fully capture. This blog expands those points.
Islamic Art: Geometry, Calligraphy and Infinite Pattern
In many Islamic traditions, especially in sacred contexts, figurative imagery is discouraged. This encouraged the development of sophisticated non-figurative art forms, particularly:
geometry symbolising order and divine unity
calligraphy as a reverent expression of the Qur’an
arabesque patterns representing infinity, growth and the interconnected nature of creation
Islamic art is not defined by what it avoids, but by the profound meaning embedded in what it embraces. Pattern, repetition and symmetry are philosophical and spiritual statements.
Western Art: Figurative Traditions and Humanism
In contrast, the human form has played a central role in Western artistic traditions for thousands of years — not solely because of Christianity, but because of:
Ancient Greek philosophy, which idealised anatomical perfection
Roman realism, which elevated portraiture and civic imagery
Renaissance humanism, which revived classical ideals of proportion, anatomy and perspective
Michelangelo, often referenced in discussions of proportion and form, did not invent the study of the body, but he became one of its greatest masters. His work reflects a lineage of classical learning that predates Christian artistic patronage.
Religion shaped subject matter, patronage and symbolism in Europe for centuries, but it was only one influence among many — alongside humanist philosophy, political power, scientific inquiry and evolving aesthetic theory.
Recognising this complexity helps us appreciate the different cultural logics that produce divergent artistic styles.
Food as Art: Intangible Heritage and Cultural Ownership
One of the most engaging moments in the episode was the discussion of food as art — particularly the example of biryani.
Multiple regions passionately claim biryani as “the original,” but this raises an important point:
If rice and meat combinations exist globally, can any one culture truly claim exclusive ownership?
The beauty of biryani lies not in its ingredients, but in its heritage:
migrations
trade routes
empire
family traditions
regional variations
historical adaptation
Food is a form of intangible cultural heritage — dynamic, living and shaped by community identity. It is creative, expressive and deeply emotional. In this sense, it functions much like art: evolving, hybrid, and reflective of shared cultural storytelling.
Tangible vs Intangible Cultural Heritage
A helpful framework for understanding the themes raised in Episode 1 is UNESCO’s distinction between:
Tangible heritage
architecture
manuscripts
paintings
archaeological objects
Intangible heritage
music and dance
calligraphy
storytelling traditions
craftsmanship
foodways
rituals and social practices
Identity emerges through both forms — the visible and the lived, the permanent and the evolving. Art, food, spirituality, language and memory intersect to create the cultural worlds we inhabit.
Identity Is Layered — and Art Helps Us Explore It
The first episode illustrates how identity is not linear or fixed. It is shaped by:
heritage
geography
belief
migration
community
personal experience
imagination
Art becomes a space where these layers meet. Whether through paint, pattern, poetry or a plate of biryani, people express who they are and who they hope to be.
Voices from East to West is not an academic art-history programme — it is a podcast about how people make meaning. The discussions are lived, not theoretical; curious, not conclusive. Expanding them here allows us to bring cultural nuance and global context to the ideas our hosts and guest introduced.
Written by Alexandria Cameron
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