Pinning down what a "culture" is, and how this is depicted through visual imagery

I've been thinking about what it is exactly that I want to do for this year.
I am interested in how worlds are built through the addition of cultural influence, and how this adds depth and narrative to 2D images. Above, i've broken down what I believe makes up the essence of culture. Not only am I interested in this, but specifically how this is represented visually, and how this can be applied to improve or add depth to concept art.

I plan to cover character design and environment design in this project, and how the essence of cultural influence can improve and create depth.

Exhibition visit! McManus Galleries, Dundee. Below is a collage of interesting items, textiles and patterns that I observed whilst there.

A quick character/composition piece I did based on 2 tutorials, once by Daarken on character design and another by James Paick on greyscalee environment thumbnailing. I tried to incorporate influence from Asian design and textile, whilst using a character silhouette i'd made a couple weeks ago.