Elizabeth Cohen California College of Arts and Crafts Personal Statement Identity is fluid. I am continually displaced. One thing leads to another. I am a first generation North American. My parents are Columbian. My father was a first generation Colombian. His parents were Syrian. My mother’s family is Catholic, my father’s–orthodox Jews. Traditions left behind. Private rituals built. What is identity? My father died when I was seventeen. He never told me about his past. I want to ask questions, look at photographs, and take pictures of his family. I find myself in Panama photographing my grandmother daily. I feel awkward. I love her. I am trying to become closer to her. One thing lead to another. I start photographing the outskirts of US military bases. I photograph at night. Where I expect to see soldiers transvestite and transsexual prostitutes emerge. They walk La Avenida Cuatro de Julio–Fourth of July Avenue, the border with the old canal zone. What is identity?