Jayson Soma

Loss of cultural identity is something experienced throughout generations, and generally is more significant the younger a person is. After doing a bit of research and talking to some of my friends, I’ve found that it’s a topic that is isn’t talked about often, but is pretty important.

This is a personal project that shares stories from a few of my close friends. Through photographic and written narrative, they discuss the reasons why they aren’t as in touch with their cultural identity as they’d like to be.

This project aims to explore my generation’s cultural disconnection. Throughout the process of talking to my friends about their relationships with their own culture, I’ve come to understand that this is a deeply complex and self-determined topic. Within this issue that much of us share, we’re on our own place along the journey of cultural understanding. The interviews I’ve conducted venture down many avenues, and touch on many reasons for cultural connection/disconnection; all three respondents share intimate experiences that convey an essence of why our generation may be out of touch.

I hope that readers will be able to relate to some aspects of the discussion and are encouraged to think about their cultural disconnect.