Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2020
Degree Name
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Abstract
In Presence Through Process: Cultivating Embodied Understanding, I set out to re-conceptualize how art can function, situating it within a framework of the idea of importance. I suggest an understanding of importance as a figment of conscious experience, locating various personal notions of importance within a working model. Within the model, I accredit the “cosmic self” to be responsible for the impulses behind my art practice. I identify the art process as a means towards presence, going further to explore what kind of embodied understanding can be garnered through it. Invoking my work in performance and etching, I demonstrate how the longevity of the making process promotes an iterative exploration towards three “poles of importance”: attending to the qualia of experience, understanding the ontology of experience, and destabilizing societal notions of reality. I conclude with an admission of the impossibility of providing a comprehensive account of how my art functions, ending with a contemplation on how framing the world through an art lens generates boundless understandings regarding where importance is to be found in art.
Mentor/Primary Advisor
Lisa Bulawsky
Recommended Citation
Morris, Zoë, "Presence Through Process: Cultivating Embodied Understanding" (2020). Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers. 83.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bfa/83