In this article, the object of research is ethnic identity. As a phenomenon of ethnic identity is reflected in the visual arts of Gagauzia in the late XX -early XXI century. The article answers the question: does ethnic identity affect art or how does art affect culture? Ethnic identity is a person's sense of belonging to a certain culture. Each person needs a certain regulation of his life, which he can find only in the community of other people, which determines the existence of ethnic identity. A person's awareness of his belonging to a community, which allows him to understand his place in the socio-cultural space and freely navigate the world around him, is connected with the concept of ethnic identity.