Date of Award
Spring 5-8-2024
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture
Degree Type
Thesis
Abstract
In exploring our pasts, memories aren’t made real until they’re articulated out loud. This critical essay offers a meditation on meaning-finding activities of the twentieth century. I offer a definition of the word wholesome, as it exists as both an aesthetic, and as a way to find personal connection with others. As an Illustrator and Storyteller, I carry a responsibility for depicting a way that the world may be remembered. When our stories paint only a picture of a triumphant and moral people we do not only a disservice to the struggles of those same people, but also to the people we are, and hope to be. Nostalgia is looking back through a fog of variations on the same story told over and over again until we feel it instead of saying it. Unexamined nostalgia –unarticulated memories– leave us vulerable to stories that we don’t realize we’re telling ourselves.
Language
English
Program Chair
John Hendrix
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Jeffrey, "Nostalgic Neighbors: Engaging the Single-Story of Wholesomeness" (2024). MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture. 28.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/28