“Come Think With Me”: Finding Communion In The Liberatory Textual Practices Of Kameelah Janan Rasheed,
2023
Cornell University
“Come Think With Me”: Finding Communion In The Liberatory Textual Practices Of Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Jehan L. Roberson
Criticism
Defining text as anything that can be read, self-identified learner and artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed explores reading as radical communion within her multifaceted textual practice. A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Rasheed’s work spans vast bodies of knowledge and temporalities to interrogate both the aesthetic and the limits of the text. At times producing collages with letters cut out from books in her own expansive library, and at other times posting scans from various books that are marked up with her rigorous note-taking, Rasheed approaches the text as an invitation to commune with the author in order to collectively arrive at new …
On The Black Book As Durational: Noah Purifoy’S Desert Library,
2023
Skidmore College
On The Black Book As Durational: Noah Purifoy’S Desert Library, Paul Benzon
Criticism
What happens to a library in the desert? How does it transform as a material object under these pressures, and what might these transformations tell us about its capacity for bearing and registering history? This article considers these questions in relation to the artist Noah Purifoy’s found-object installation Library of Congress, one of approximately thirty works that make up the ten-acre space of the Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Art in Joshua Tree, California. The museum consists of a wide range of found-object sculptures, all deeply enmeshed within the space of the desert. The museum, and indeed Purifoy’s …
New Mapping,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
New Mapping, Dowon Yoo
Masters Theses
Tools determine the shape of most of the worlds that are manufactured or measured. Taking the Earth as an example, territory is shaped and transformed by the tools of the earth's plate movement, the sea, and humans. A map, a recognized territory, is represented through numerical instruments, mathematical formulas, and visual devices such as lenses.
The instrumental perspective is one of the powerful lenses that will work effectively into the past, present, and future. So I started to apply an instrumental perspective to digital space. Digital space which is Non-physical has become one of the most important worlds for contemporary …
Distance: A Collection Of Studies Of Human-Computer Interaction To Explore Human Emotions And Relationships,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Distance: A Collection Of Studies Of Human-Computer Interaction To Explore Human Emotions And Relationships, Jinha Kang
Masters Theses
In today's society, technology has become an indispensable part of our lives, permeating our daily routines to the point where it feels as essential as the air we breathe. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the profound impact of technology, revealing its dual nature. While video conferencing bridged distances and connected people, the excessive use of social media drove wedges between them. As a multimedia artist, this thesis focuses on harnessing the positive potential of technology. Specifically, the objective is to employ technology as a medium to create art that fosters meaningful connections among individuals and conveys intricate emotions and complex …
Instances Of The Spirit (Glossary),
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Instances Of The Spirit (Glossary), Kamari A. Smalls
Masters Theses
This thesis offers a performative methodology to engaging with the worlds and ideas that these words have generated in the form of a glossary. The list of words include: Ancestor, Anointing, Attune, Breath, Conjure, Conversion, Dance, Erotic, Ephemera, Ethervism, God, Girlhood, Hallelujah, Imagination, Improvisation, Jazz, Knowledge, Love, Liturgical, Magic, Memory, Performance, Prayer, Remnant, Repetition, Ritual, Root, Sacred/Secular, Silence/Stillness, Sound, Spell, Spirit, Testimony, Water, and Witness. Personal reflections, contemplations and expansions from other writing, and passages that come out of Black feminist thought, Black girlhood studies, and Black performance theory exist here simultaneously. This glossary demonstrates the theory, theology and lineages …
Vanitas,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Vanitas, Sae Jung Oh
Masters Theses
Vanitas is a tribute to the missing pieces within the reconstruction of human memory, places, and data. It is a cartography of words, including home, apartment complex, reconstruction, mourning, archive, memory, memorialization, a god within, collective memory, photogrammetry, cyberspace, omnipresence, meandering, heterotopia, alleyway, construction site, and mirror. I invite readers to meander in the map of relations and be lost in the topography. What can you discover when you meander? What happens when you renounce being a subject and become an object seamlessly blended into the topography?
Cyberflesh: The Me I'Ve Made For You,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Cyberflesh: The Me I'Ve Made For You, Jordan Metz
Masters Theses
This thesis deals with the impact of digital life on individuals by examining how real things become virtual bodies of information. Throughout this text, I weave key theoretical and literary references between my own thoughts and experiences which led to the work that appears in this book. I find it useful to attend to the spaces in between entities, theories, and technolo- gies. In these undefined spaces lies the spiritual dimension of media, the everyday magic that makes digital life possible. These ‘in-betweens’ are the site of transcendence granted by technology. In my practice, I’ve learned that things have a …
New Commandments,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
New Commandments, Jacob Sussman
Masters Theses
I reach into the earth, pull out mud-encrusted objects, and recombine them to define new meanings. With every object transposed, the past breaks down; new potentials form. “New Commandments” recombines historical symbolism through an intuitive building, destroying, and merging to reimagine or re-establish meaning.
The work critiques rites of passage, masculinity, and stereotypes by deconstructing how histories, ideologies, and preconceptions form.
As a queer person raised in-between Judaism and Christianity, social preconceptions and religious expectations festered my formation. Our choice is taken away at this moment of conception. To take back autonomy, I reimagine historical, and religious symbolism and transmute …
To Melt,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
To Melt, Huanzhe Hu
Masters Theses
This thesis focuses on the need for a reevaluation of the relationship between humans and nature in the face of the current ecological crisis. The author argues that the dominant anthropocentric orientation, which sees nature as a resource to be exploited for human benefit, has led to over extraction and resource abuse, disrupting the balance of ecosystems. Instead, the author suggests adopting an ethical framework based on mutual understanding and appreciation, breaking the "hunter's gaze" and fostering empathy for non-human life forms. This thesis also explores the potential for new forms of communication and engagement with nature, such as through …
I Buried The Fireworks Under The Tree,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
I Buried The Fireworks Under The Tree, Sihan Zhu
Masters Theses
Unreachable memories always surround me. I've been trying to extract logical parts from my chaotic memories, hoping to find a connection with the world within the soundless, intangible black fireworks stored in my retina under the grand fireworks display. When I first encountered intaglio printmaking, I impulsively drew subconscious memories on the plate, arranging them along some chaotic storylines. Gradually, I realized that I needed to create my own logical structure. So I started using specific visual symbols and repeating them, using the repetition of the printmaking process to search for logical clues. Printmaking with its special rhythm allowed me …
Superbland,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Superbland, Dougal Henken
Masters Theses
"A thin wafer is placed in the mouth of a kneeling woman and becomes flesh. A man masturbates quietly in a darkened room to a 3D model of a popular film actress. A car drives through an abandoned town and decelerates as it approaches a sign reading “Slow Children Playing.” A man fastidiously mows an artificial lawn while watching the sun dip low over a vast desert horizon. Superbland opens up new paths in understanding graphic design within the realm of the hyperreal. It begins with a study of simulation in graphic design contexts, building upon established forms of meaning-making …
Soul Furnace / فرن الأرواح,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Soul Furnace / فرن الأرواح, Isa Ghanayem
Masters Theses
“This is the good washing, this is (the washing) which separates the dirty body from the pure body. This is like silver mixed with lead, it is separated from it by this (process): one makes for it a cupel of bones, which is what is called the “head of the dog” and of which the common name is kūja-which is the crucible—and this must be made of burnt bones. One melts the silver in it, one gives it a strong fire: the cupel will absorb and receive the lead, the fire will make its subtle (part) fly away and extirpate …
Moondoggie's Ad,
2023
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Moondoggie's Ad, Mia Horvath
Graphic Communication
I created a 2 minute ad for Moondoggies that defines the brands “attitude” as well as establishes its demographic, highlights the products they sell, and showcases the natural beauty of the region Moondoggies was founded in.
Step 10,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Step 10, Jinhong Cai
Masters Theses
Step 10 is an experiment on provoking empathy through
abstracted elements within my studio practice. I am
proposing to craft an emotional piece without leaning
on my identity. This written thesis consists of two parts:
narrative prose and an explanation of my studio practice.
While the installation is entirely devoid of cultural or
personal references, this text-based thesis is full of them
because it is intended to inform whoever is interested in
learning more about the motive behind this creation.
The questions I bought into the thought and creation
process are: Can a piece of art still successfully bring
out …
Exploring The Motivations And Therapeutic Benefits Of Fandom And Fanart Online Communities: A Literature Review,
2023
Lesley University
Exploring The Motivations And Therapeutic Benefits Of Fandom And Fanart Online Communities: A Literature Review, Miriam Kilian
Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses
Participation in Online Fandom culture has become a highly valued aspect of many individuals' self-expression and how they seek to build social connections with others. Furthermore, within the Fandom community, the phenomenon of creating and sharing fan-based work also plays a significant role in the interactions between group members. These factors are important to acknowledge in a therapeutic context as future practitioners can choose to utilize a client's pre-established fandom involvement to explore their identity and social connections with other fans. This thesis is a literature review that examines the academic journals and individual interviews of Fanart Creators. The topics …
The Benefits Of Art Therapy On Stress And Anxiety Of Oncology Patients During Treatment,
2023
Lesley University
The Benefits Of Art Therapy On Stress And Anxiety Of Oncology Patients During Treatment, Helen Shiepe
Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses
Within the last ten years research on art therapy and its positive impact on oncology patients’ stress and anxiety during treatment has been minimal. Oncology patients whether they are children or adults when diagnosed experience similar reactions due to their diagnosis, treatment, and in some cases end of life care. The current question is whether or not art therapy does have a positive impact on decreasing the stress and anxiety with oncology patients while undergoing treatment. Deane, Fitch & Carmen (2000), discussed art therapy as a healing art that is “intended to integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual care by facilitating …
Creating Project Contrast: A Video Game Exploring Consciousness And Qualia,
2023
Seattle Pacific University
Creating Project Contrast: A Video Game Exploring Consciousness And Qualia, Pierce Papke
Honors Projects
Project Contrast is a video game that explores how the unique traits inherent to video games might engage reflective player responses to qualitative experience. Project Contrast does this through suspension of disbelief, avatar projection, presence, player agency in storytelling, visual perception, functional gameplay, and art. Considering the difficulty in researching qualitative experience due to its subjectivity and circular explanations, I created Project Contrast not to analyze qualia, though that was my original hope. I instead created Project Contrast as an avenue for player self-reflection and learning about qualitative experience. While video games might be just code and art on a …
Digitizing The American West: Analyzing Rhetoric In Red Dead Redemption 2,
2023
Seton Hall University
Digitizing The American West: Analyzing Rhetoric In Red Dead Redemption 2, Amalia Mcevoy
Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)
High-budget, long-form storytelling games offer dozens of hours of content for audiences to explore and learn from. Although far different from sitting and reading a book, there is a distinct connection to be made between how literature is experienced and how audiences can experience a narrative-heavy video game. Based on this connection, there are bridges to be built between video games and literature, understanding how one field can benefit from the other as well as how one field can be informed by the other. An analysis of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 using reader response theory can illustrate …
Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body,
2023
Southern Methodist University
Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer
Art Theses and Dissertations
To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …
This Memory Is Redacted But Not Gone,
2023
Syracuse University
This Memory Is Redacted But Not Gone, Wanda-Marie Rana
Art - All Scholarship
In this paper, This memory is redacted but not gone, I discuss how my artistic practice, my time in graduate school, and my own life experiences have led me to create my thesis project. The paper is split up into chapters describing the work I made while in graduate school along with my themes; memory, family, home, and identity, and methods; archive, collage, and investigation, of working. I then dedicate a chapter specifically to my thesis work before concluding the paper with my plans to continue my practice after graduate school.
