Date of Award
Spring 3-2015
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art
Degree Type
Restricted Access Thesis
Abstract
Feelings are Facts.
“A Conversation to Hold | The Intimacy of Performance” is in the form of an imagined conversation between self-as-artist and self-as-inquisitor (a.k.a. my conscience).
Kellie Spano invites the reader to embrace an empathetic model through a creative practice built on the physicality of embodiment. A deep commitment to performance allows Spano to negotiate female desire, sexuality and beauty through the media of film and photography. Invoking feminist models such as Audre Lorde and Leigh Bowery alongside theoretical writing by Lauren Berlant, Hélène Cixous and Celine Condorelli, Spano asserts her claims. This thesis-as-dialogue delves into empathy through vulnerability, solidarity, and presence to awaken that within us that feels -- ultimately asking its readers to try a little tenderness.
Language
English (en)
Program Director
Patricia Olynyk
Program Director's Department
Graduate School of Art
Committee Member
Jessica Baran
Committee Member
Jessica Baran
Committee Member
Heather Bennett
Committee Member
Cheryl Wassenaar
Committee Member
Annamaria Pileggi
Recommended Citation
Spano, Kellie, "A Conversation to Hold | The Intimacy of Performance" (2015). Graduate School of Art Theses. ETD 49. https://doi.org/10.7936/K71R6NQP.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/samfox_art_etds/49
Artist's Statement
Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K71R6NQP