Digital Commons Network^™

Body. Freedom. Choice: Creating Artwork In Post-Roe America, Erin Sedra

MSU Graduate Theses

I knew from a young age that I never wanted children. Whenever I expressed my disinterest in motherhood, I was often met with bewilderment, disapproval, and hostility. The church I was raised in taught me that my value and worth as a woman directly correlated with the power of my birthing hips. This fundamentalist upbringing has significantly shaped my relationship with my femininity, my body, and my artwork. When I feel powerless, turning to my art gives me a sense of control and self-expression. This body of work began as a reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and …

Women's Work: The Sublime Is Now, Michelle Blackstone

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

What influences the lens through which we view art and the value we ascribe to it? This paper investigates the ways in which the historically gendered philosophy of “The Sublime,” a lack of institutional access, and traditionally gendered materials have acted as impediments for women in the arts. Discussion is given to the ways that masculine rhetoric in terms of “The Sublime” prevented women from attaining what was once considered the highest level of artistic achievement. Further attention is given to obstructions female artists face(d) in terms of gaining intuitional access within the art world. Finally, I examine the ways …

Other Oceans, Other Skies, Sharlene Lee

MFA in Visual Art

I create immersive installations, performances, and time-based media artworks that delve into stories of belonging, feminism, and language as power. These stories offer a potential for transformation from viewer to participant and a shift in how our world is seen and experienced. Through an exploration of perception and affect, I challenge dominant narratives, prompting a contemplation of contemporary power struggles for control.

In this text, I examine the impact of historical borders and migration on my life while also investigating questions of home, shared values, and rituals that contribute to one’s sense of belonging. I also highlight my commitment to …

Gloria Rehearsal (Excerpt) A Feminist Mechanism For Metabolization, Eleanor Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Weaving embodied trauma studies with feminist theory, non-hierarchical creative structures, and research in dance improvisation, this thesis paper written by Eleanor Smith contextualizes the dance performance gloria rehearsal (excerpt). The performance piece was choreographed and performed by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, who have been co-choreographing feminist dances since 2006.

Skin Echoes, Andreia Santana

Theses and Dissertations

Santana’s explores the intersection of biology and identity, incorporating living matter and performative gestures into installations to reflect on social constructs of history and gender. By observing water and its qualities of defying Western dichotomies, Skin Echoes focuses on the material interchanges across bodies and the wider material world.

Manifesting Magic: Occultism And Feminism In The Art Of Leonora Carrington And Remedios Varo, Margaret Dirschl

MA Theses

The artworks of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo are replete with
symbolism and evocations of the occult, formulating bodies of work that are charged with magic and mysticism. When studied within the context of their male contemporaries of the Surrealist group, it becomes apparent that this use of the occult operates as a compelling and historically based feminist strategy. Immediately stemming from the occult revival of the previous century and the issues for females presented by Surrealism, the foundations of this idea originate much earlier in the pagan traditions of antiquity and the witch hunts of the 15th through 18th …

Understanding Castration Anxiety Through Contemporary Art And Feminism, Ember J. Nevins

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Return, Leilani Bascom

Theses and Dissertations

Return is a video-based installation which includes sound, performance, and textile elements. Leilani Bascom is the lone actor navigating the water and where the water meets the land in this personal project exploring concepts of the life cycle from birth to death and rebirth. Life's paradox of struggle and release unfolds with imagery of battling through waves to swim deep underwater, fighting a river current and then surrendering to the flow, and carving a hole in the sand to climb into and be held. Viewers are immersed in the movement and sounds of water to witness the power and meaning …

Carrying The Longings, Shuoran Zhou

Theses - ALL

The objective of this paper is to reveal the origin and evolution of the work I have made, thereby establishing the foundation for my future practice. The core purpose of my work is to provoke introspection and to question, if not reverse, entrenched and stereotypical assumptions toward women. I derive inspiration from my confrontational relationship with my mother, who is a prominent female figure in my life. Our confrontations arise from our differing perspectives and beliefs regarding the roles and aspirations of women. These unpleasant confrontations are the origin of my practice, which is based on questioning assumptions and norms …

Inequality In Renaissance Art; A Study Into The Lack Of Female Representation, Kaitlyn Anderson

Honors College Theses

This paper explores how female biblical figures were under-represented during the Renaissance period. It explores possible reasonings, consequences, and then takes a physical exploration into the renaissance style through newly created artworks. It also explores in greater detail, two specific female biblical figures, their multifaceted stories, and their previous portrayals. Lastly homage is paid to the female artists throughout history who have been working to level the playing field in the art-world.

The Intersection Of Fashion And Politics: A Semiotic Analysis Of Vogue Magazine Covers Surrounding Election Seasons, Megan M. Vincent

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the political messages framed within the cover of Vogue magazines by reviewing the published issues that surround election season. By focusing on the intersection of politics and fashion through the visual representation provided by a prestigious, globally known fashion magazine, the research will observe the potential increase and growth of political involvement within influence of the fashion industry. This study will begin with the October, November, and December covers from the 2016 and 2020 presidential election. These will be accompanied by the January, February, and March covers of the following years. Guided by semiotic analysis and visual …

Dream/Reality, Mercedes Llanos

Theses and Dissertations

Mercedes llanos explores the surreal aspect of dreams as they concern with waking life issues, mainly focusing on power-roles in domestic partnerships embedded in a South American patriarchal upbringing. In her dreams, she subconsciously navigates the repression of freedom firsthand experienced, and that of the transgenerational woman collective.

Madonna Metamorphoses, Isabella Rose Slezak

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Madonna Metamorphoses is a body of work illustrating the women martyred and monstrous. In fables, myths and folklore the woman is framed as a spinster, a seductress, a virgin, a victim. She is monstrous. She is contrary enough to upset the status quo, but weak enough to be defeated by it.

When women undergo monstrous transformations in these narratives there can be two reasons why. The transformation is either a curse placed upon her, one that must be broken for her to be whole again. The story of Swan Lake, for example. Or it is seen as a form of …

Turning Tides, Lauren Whitmore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Synthesizing personal narrative, sociological phenomenon, and art historical analysis, Turning Tides examines the relationship between power dynamics and sexual assault. Inequities and injustices with regard to the handling of sexual assault, and the norms that allow this issue to be pervasive, are woven throughout the cultural fabric of the United States. Feminists and feminist activist artists in the 1970s brought the matters women, and other marginalized groups, were facing to the forefront of political and social dialogue. The resulting work left an indelible mark on public perceptions and allowed for other activists and artists to build upon the foundations; creating …

Love Labor: Literal Symbols And True Abstractions., Karen Weeks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

If the home can be a metaphor for our own interiors, then the things that collect there can be similarly thought of, performing as punctuated moments within that interior, giving it shape, creating contours. Within the domestic setting, macro social forces such as global capitalism as well as the more immediate experience of meeting our children’s demands can push and pull us, equally informing the experience of being in the home. Love Labor: Literal Symbols and True Abstractions is comprised of images sourced from common ephemera of the home meant to represent the everyday: notes, discarded letters, open envelopes, unfinished …

Three Strikes: The Evolution Of A Creative Practice Through Discovery, Connection, And Structure Or We Should All Be Artists, Anthropologists, And Feminists, Anne Barnes

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

By identifying the three areas that merge to form my artistic practice: discovery, connection, and structure; this thesis uses my creative process as a way to form the link between my intellectual and material impulses, and to identify the connections I make between what abstract painting means to me, my feminist ideals and how they are informed by the gender inequality persistent in the art world today, as well as thoughts I have around the concept of the “feminine” as viewed through the lens of art history. In this way, I demonstrate how these elements are woven together and the …

To Participate In The Image: Reification & Reproduction, Justine Xi

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

Spanning sculpture, video, and installation, I develop my work through techniques of collage and (re)appropriation to investigate and criticize Western hegemonic perceptions and representations of the (Asian) Other. I investigate perceptions of Asianness in the Western imagination from Orientalism to Techno-Orientalism, demonization and fetishization, focusing on the circulation of imagery in art, media, and popular culture. Further, I draw attention to the internalization of these standards and what it means to participate in the construction and distribution of the image, its implications and perceptions.

Kavana: Photography, Jewish Storytelling, And Memory, Hannah Altman

Theses and Dissertations

Jewish thought suggests that the memory of an action is as primary as the action itself. This is to say that when my hand is wounded, I remember other hands. I trace ache back to other aches - when my mother grabbed my wrist pulling me across the intersection, when my great-grandmother’s fingers went numb on the ship headed towards Cuba fleeing the Nazis, when Miriam’s palms enduringly poured water for the Hebrews throughout their desert journey - this is how the Jew is able to fathom an ache. Because no physical space is a given for the Jewish diaspora, …

Tenacity, Angela Stevenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Creating my exhibition, Tenacity, was a labor of love that took place over the year and a half that I was a student in Stephen F. Austin State University of Texas’s Graduate Program. I explored new processes in painting, including the use of transfers, and did extensive research into the lives of female historical figures. This exhibition was born of a wish to share knowledge with others as well as to remind society that anyone can elicit change.

The Simultaneous Book: Women's Writing In Contemporary Art, Maryse Lariviere

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Novels written by women authors who don’t adhere to the classification “visual artist” are nonetheless gaining momentum in today's contemporary art world. Yet works by authors such as Chris Kraus or Catherine Millet are often not recognized as artist’s novels because their authors are not or/and do not consider themselves to be visual artists. I contend that we can usefully situate their work within the genre of the artist’s novel by addressing how they invent artistic postures and artistic alter-egos within the autofictional worlds of their texts. My dissertation The Simultaneous Book proposes to open up the definition of the …

The Performing Female Body: The National Theatre Frankenstein As Performance Art, Hannah Mahrii Gunson

Theses and Dissertations

The National Theatre's Frankenstein is not the first time Shelley's novel has been adapted for the stage, but it is the first time a stage adaptation has returned the popular story to its source material's feminist themes. Departing from the iterations that portrayed Victor Frankenstein as a Byronic hero, Nick Dear's adaptation has re-designed Frankenstein to be misogynistic and calloused. His new nature is best observed in the scene wherein Frankenstein presents the Woman-Creature he's built for his first Creature. She is naked, silent, submissive, and viciously dismembered at the end of the scene. While such submissiveness might justifiably be …

I Speak As One In Doubt, Margaret Hazel Wilson

Masters Theses

A written thesis to accompany the M.F.A. Exhibition I Speak as One in Doubt. Blending epistolary format and visionary narrative, the artist addresses her complex relationship to her Catholic upbringing.

Panmela Castro: Feminism In Brazilian Graffiti Art, Giulia Chu Ferri

Student Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an analysis on the graffiti artist Panmela Castro and her murals in Brazil and around the world. My thesis emphasizes the importance of feminist subject matter for graffiti art in Brazil, as well as its impact on the public sphere. The paper is separated into four sections: “Formative Years,” describing her biography and the development of her works; “Interaction with the City,” analyzing the interaction between graffiti and the urban environment, and using that discussion as a frame to contextualize Castro’s work; “Feminist Imagery and Ideology,” examining some of her concurrent themes and imageries; and finally “Transnational …

Trace., Kcj Szwedzinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trace utilizes autoethnography to investigate aspects of Judaism to discover how one decides what to embrace, embody, or deny from inherited legacies. Autoethnography attempts to combine quantitative and qualitative data in order to systematically analyze and describe personal experience. The artist acting as Ba’alei Kushiah, or question bearer, uses Talmudic philosophy as a methodology and approach to art making. This research is self-referential; using Jewish thought to ask questions about Judaism. Judaism, often existing in an in between place with outward characteristics that reflect regional influences, facilitates a dialogue about whether there are relative or absolute delineations within and between …

Behind Closet Doors: Horror And Dislocation In The Queer Closet, Corey C. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

“Behind Closet Doors: Horror and Dislocation in the Queer Closet,” is composed of a collection of sculptures, videos, and sound works that are directly associated with themes of horror and anxiety derived from the precarious space of the queer closet as detailed in this thesis of the same name.

Deconstructing The Image Of Woman: Video Portraiture And Women’S Performance For The Camera 1972-1980, Olivia Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines key examples of video portraiture, a subgenre of 1970s video art in the United States. Through the examples three aesthetic categories are defined: mirroring, masquerade, and disrupting the male gaze. Video portrait works are framed by goals of the Women’s Liberation Movement and Second Wave Feminism.

Heartmtndemon: Mourning Ritual, Alison M. Kizu-Blair

Theses and Dissertations

Using performance, video, and installation, I explore the horrors of contemporary culture as well as horrors of the past. Research into my family's internment in the Heart Mountain concentration camp weaves into a narrative about Asian stereotypes, self-identification, and contemplation about the best course of action moving forward.

In A Building, A Stairwell, A Room Speaks, Tsz Wai Wallis Cheung

Theses and Dissertations

Working toward a personal definition of womanhood while progressing with my research in feminist discourse, I frame biographical events alongside the intricate use of language surrounding feminist theory. Experimenting with material specificities that speak to my personal narratives and cultural significance, my work seeks to address the interlacing operations of subjectivity expanding on the intersection of class, gender and race.

A Woman's Gaze, Emily Fiore

Honors Theses

My work merges my passion of thinking politically and artistically. This series, A Woman’s Gaze, is an extension of my Political Science thesis, where I focused on artists who combat the male gaze by representing women’s lives realistically, from a woman’s perspective. These paintings focus on intimate scenarios from women’s lives where the male gaze is absent. The large scale imagery brings visibility to these otherwise private moments.

Dear Diary : Musings From An Invisible Mixie, Sarah C. Creagen

Theses and Dissertations

This is a paper for mixed-race queers; visible, invisible, and maybe still deciding where they fall in the spectrum.