Date of Award
Spring 5-10-2024
Degree Name
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Abstract
Abjection can whisper. It lies beneath the joke; you will find it there if you spend the time. Look at me. Come closer. Are you willing to discover? If you listen, I will confess, I will air out my dirty laundry, I will show you the inside of my body and its evidence.
My thesis is a consideration of my waste, an analysis of the bodily trail I leave behind. I explore indecency as a persistent feature of my art practice and a tactic I use to stimulate interest. My overarching unladylike sensibility is broken down into three categories – abjection, exposure, and humor – to investigate my conceptual basis and approach to art-making. These three seemingly incongruent themes are deeply interconnected within the context of my practice; this paper aims to reveal how they intertwine and find balance together. Throughout my work, and particularly in my thesis piece Dirty Laundry: Publicly Erring, I consider how abjection can be made digestible – an apparent oxymoron – through the insertion and overlay of humor.
Mentor/Primary Advisor
Cheryl Wassenaar, Heather Bennett, Arny Nadler
Recommended Citation
Kish, Maddy, "Hidden in Humor: Redefining Abjection through Implication" (2024). Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers. 118.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bfa/118
Artist's Statement
The proceedings are as follows:
Each morning The Artist wakes up and crosses the bedroom to snooze the digital alarm clock. The Artist then returns to bed for fifteen (15) to thirty (30) minutes before making the Great Voyage again to turn the beeping off for good. The Artist relocates to the kitchen to brew the coffee, which is essential, not because it wakes The Artist up but because it catalyzes The Morning Poop. The body’s reaction to the coffee is variable; sometimes minimal sips are required while occasionally it is necessary to finish the mug. After receiving The Signal, The Artist enters the bathroom. The Artist then sits atop the toilet for approximately twenty (20) minutes. Poop is often but not always produced. Nonetheless, The Artist completes the sitting. In the case of poop, The Artist opens the Notes App and records the time in the appropriate field before rising and turning to flush.
Everything The Artist does is epic. I summon power through this alter ego, reveling in its tragically inflated sense of self-importance and fantastical overconfidence. My practice reflects my desire to entertain – I tell stories with wit to connect with the viewer – and it is also a futile search for personal identity. I assert my selfhood through my rituals and my habitual documentation of them. I cling to routine, whether constructed or observed, absurd or menial, private or collective. Perhaps this is why I remain on the toilet even when no poop comes out. I am the repetition; I am the act. I am inside of the things I love and hate. I am solidified as I am seen. I become the things I do over and over again until there is nothing else.