Last Thursday night, I made my way to campus to attend a workshop that promised something I hadn’t expected to find in Rome: a space to untangle the layers of my own identity. “Identity Between Cultures: A Creative Workshop” was organized by Sensi Holistic Creative Agency, an association for social promotion that uses art, creativity, and storytelling as tools for social impact, collective healing, and social cohesion.
I was greeted by a circle of stools. Within the circle, the floor was covered with A3 paper, newspaper, paint, glue, and old magazine covers—raw materials waiting to become something meaningful.
The instructor gave a brief overview of the workshop, offering little guidance on what we should create. This openness felt both liberating and daunting. But as I sat down and began sifting through the scattered materials, something unexpected happened.
The Workshop Space
Within minutes, I found myself building a familiar story of my life with random scraps of paper and paint colors: half a magazine page of a BMW cartoon, a Patek Philippe watch, then dirty white shoes, a picture of hospitals with nurses standing beside bedridden patients, and finally, a Danish painting of a man praying. Without planning it, I had created a visual narrative of my childhood growing up lower-income in Singapore, with a family who struggled with illness. Then, my growing years, aspiring for more worldly things, with a constant reminder to myself to never forget that I’m always rooted in my family.
After twenty minutes, we were asked to gather in a circle. One by one, we shared our stories through our collages, and then connected our papers on the bulletin board, creating a tapestry of intersecting lives.
I found myself captivated by every person’s story. Each collage revealed not just where we came from, but the liminal space we now occupy—between cultures, between identities, between who we were and who we’re becoming.
More surprisingly, when it was my turn, I spoke about my collage with little forethought, yet was able to share a fully coherent story of my life. The words flowed naturally, as if the artwork had unlocked something I hadn’t known how to articulate before. It appears to me that art has the ability to give form to our subconscious thoughts and self-concept, transforming fragmented experiences into a coherent narrative.
The Final Tapestry of Art
Living in Rome—a city that has reinvented itself countless times while remaining unmistakably Roman—has made me think differently about identity. Here, ancient ruins stand beside Renaissance palazzi and modern apartments, each layer visible and valued. Perhaps my own identity works the same way: my Singaporean roots, my family’s struggles, my aspirations, and now this Roman chapter aren’t separate phases to leave behind, but layers that coexist, each giving depth and meaning to the others.
I truly enjoyed this workshop. It offered something I didn’t know I needed: a way to visualize the complexity of existing between cultures, and a reminder that our identities aren’t fixed narratives but ongoing collages, always being created and recreated. I’m grateful to be a Culture and Identity Envoy, and for this opportunity to explore not just Rome’s identity, but my own.
If you’d like to see the interesting activities Temple Rome organizes for its students, visit the Temple Rome program page on the Study Abroad Website. During your time abroad, you will have a plethora of opportunities to learn more about Italy, your environment, and yourself!