Being A Foreigner

By Steven Conejo Gutierrez

Of the museums I visited and exhibitions

I saw while in London, which were much more than I thought I was going to get to see, the item that I related to the most was a piece by Fred Wilson in the TATE Modern Museum.

The TATE Modern depicted a variety of topics, authors, and pieces and it was one of the easiest museums to navigate and enjoy. The piece specifically has no name, but showed a variety of flags from multiple countries. The countries that the piece showed were African nations like Kenya, Burundi, and Chad. In addition, the piece contained the flags of African diaspora nations like Jamaica. The countries shown have in common a rough history related to colonialism. For the piece, the representative colors were taken out of their flags. From my perspective, I would say that they were made in a minimalist way. Minimalism that-in words of the museum-intend to question the capacity of the flags to represent the places all over history did not help me resolve it. Actually, these experiences confused me more. Looking at the fabrics, canoes, monuments, statues, architecture, and even people walking gave me more to compare my worldview to. This brought me back home, which being 8730 km away made me feel as foreign as someone can be. The contradictory feeling it generated was captivating. Because, while you enjoy the city and all it has to offer you miss everything back home. I have been a foreigner for almost a year now in the US and I also was a foreigner during my time in England. Besides, culture shock experienced by being a nonnative feels weird and has multiple drawbacks. Examples abound in my daily life not understanding the way people talk or react to things. Also, being constantly lost, and crossing complex history behind them. The piece’s criticism made me love it because it showed in the simplest way possible that culture is much more than just colors and symbols. Culture is people, suffering, traditions, resistance, and scenery. Culture is one of the strangest concepts we usually have to deal with.

While in London this question, what is culture? kept my mind busy. Walking the beautiful streets, new to me, that the city offered or in the museums looking at pieces of times and the streets in London which are backward is an example for which I almost got driven over, or unconsciously standing out due to the way you dress. It’s difficult to manage all these bad things, a challenge harder than a lot of people might think. At the same time, you may have the worst time of your life because of homesickness and confusion while you are having the best experiences of your life. Being foreign to a culture is not easy but, once you learn to deal with your confusion, the new environment always has so much to give. Wherever you are in London with the weird streets and mews, or in the States being foreign to a place might be the worst-best thing someone can do.