What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge?

Knowledge can be defined as justified true beliefs that individuals acquire through various means such as personal experience, observation, reasoning, and communication with others. It encompasses facts information as well and understanding. This definition highlights the relationship that knowledge and personal experience share, presenting a causal relationship between the two variables. Personal experience on the other hand is an individual encounter, perception, and interpretation of life. This exhibition will aim to explore the relationship shared by personal experience and knowledge.

This photo was taken in 2015 at a time when we were not on good terms with my sisters but the photo depicts a happy family, full of love. Our faces are beaming with grins because our mother wanted us to look happy for the photos so that they could be displayed around the house and in the family autograph album. Initially, I believed that images are used to reflect the mood felt in the moment captured in the image.

 

My siblings and I carried a unique set of experiences and knowledge, our sitting position, facial expression, and the way we interacted show our shared experiences and knowledge in our family unit. In the sense that non-verbal cues like sitting position and facial expressions reflect shared experiences demonstrated in our family's collective knowledge.

 

Family photos often portray an idealized version of reality or an authentic one. The memories I have of this photo have shaped my knowledge of what our family was then. The emotions expressed in the photo impact our interpretation of the experiences we underwent as a family. It represents my mother's perspective and what she wanted for our family. By relying on the photo for knowledge, one is bound to adopt my mother’s personal experience.

 

Individuals often portray happiness despite the sadness that encompasses their lives. This highlights the inconsistency between perceived reality and personal experience, emphasizing the latter’s significance in overcoming the surface-level perceptions depicted through images. Thus, personal experiences serve as a crucial lens through which we can interpret visual representations and encourage a deeper understanding that captured moments.

My second object is the novel “Holding up the Universe” by Jennifer Niven given to me by my father before I began my IGCSE examinations to serve as a reminder that at the end of it all, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Ever since I got it, I annotated it and highlighted the most touching parts. While reading, I realized that it was written to go beyond the love story into explaining mental health, and identity amidst characters. In "Holding Up the Universe," Libby & Jack challenge norms, finding connection through vulnerability, resilience, and acceptance.

 

The novel shed light on the marginalization of plus-sized women, and the discrimination that resonated with my personal experience growing up as a chubby girl. My physical appearance drastically differed from my peers. My personal experience as a child conflicted with the reality around me. The other children were mostly slimmer compared to me. Just like Libby in the book,  I decided to reclaim my self-worth by ignoring other people's experiences and embracing my journey.  By adopting my personal experiences and making authentic connections I was able to overcome my adversity.

 

Novelists craft stories open to interpretation, influenced by readers' experiences. Since my friends also read the novel their personal experiences significantly differed from mine. Diverse interpretations arise, shaping understandings. Personal experiences uniquely play a role in shaping our knowledge. People tend to interpret their current situation based on their beliefs and past experiences.  By interacting with different perspectives and reflecting on our experiences, we continuously redefine our knowledge of the world.

The above shows my father and me, as he was holding me in his arms in 2006 when I was just almost a year old. I found it while I was looking through our family albums and the image deeply resonated with me as it served as a moment that was to mark the beginning of the close relationship that my father and I were going to share. There were times in school and in my social life when I struggled to accept myself and my father's words of encouragement always helped me truly take a step back and analyze the situation with a clear mind and that he would always be my biggest cheerleader through all of life’s ups and downs.

 

This image evokes emotions and triggers memories, which shape my perception and interpretation of the world. It is a reflection of my identity, it shows how the influence of my father shapes my experiences and knowledge. My understanding of identity and self-awareness majorly comes from my father’s teaching and experiences. These shared experiences brought me closer to my father even though our perspectives are shaped by our unique experiences.

 

Childhood images, like the one with my dad, represent personal experiences that shape our understanding of the world. Interpreted through people's lenses, these images may become a channel for knowledge acquisition. In my case, the image captures moments of bonding with my father as well as serving to be a moment of learning, enhancing my knowledge base. His teachings and influence have been a stepping stool to understanding the complexities of the world. Hence, the image serves as a testament to the causal relationship between personal experience and knowledge as it illustrates how family interactions contribute to our comprehension and perspective of the world.