Thinking about Culture

Hi, I'm back!

Been away for a while, becoming a dad (life keeps offering distractions like that), but now I'm getting back to work. This was a bit of warm-up exercise, and it came from a course I'm doing as part of my day-job, where I'm getting certification for my Learning Support work. We were asked to make an image that reflected on our culture. It was just meant to be a quick A4 image, but, well... I needed to get my drawing muscles going, so this was what came out:

Now, if that isn't entirely self-explanatory (and it shouldn't be, as this was obviously a very personal piece), let me clarify, from the foreground back:

The dancers are from a photo I took of a procession at the Notting Hill carnival. I've been wanting to use that image for ages, and the carnival is a perfect image for the St Lucian to London immigrant side of my family.
The statue behind them is the International Brigade monument, which can be found on London's South Bank. This represents a huge part of my Mum's side of the family; my Great-Grandad fought in the Spanish Civil War, as part of the anti-fascist International Brigade. He left a culture of principled Left-Wing politics in the family, which is still going.
The next symbol is the London Underground Roundel. I'd love to know a symbol that more immediately shouts "London!".
On the left is the Public Enemy logo. Hip Hop, as a music and a culture has been part of my life, as a soundtrack and a philosophy, since Public Enemy's Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black. Their 95 show at the Clapham Grand was also my first gig, and I've now seen them on both sides of the world. I wouldn't be the person I am without this act.
Behind all of these is the Sydney Opera House. I think that's pretty self-explanatory.
The framing device is a comic book cover. Anyone looking at the pages on my site can see how big an influence comics and comic art have been on me. I feel like I should specify a few, so Milestone Media (referenced in the box in the top left) with its artists like MD "Doc" Bright, Denys Cowan, Chriscross, John Paul Leon, JH Williams, Wilfred and Eric Battle; Rom Spaceknight with Sal Buscema and Steve Ditko, and; a whole bunch of great artists who've worked on Transformers over the years (Geoff Senior, Andrew Wildman, EJ Su, Nick Roche, Alex Milne and Sarah Stone).