Date of Award

Spring 5-8-2024

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Author's Department

Graduate School of Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art

Degree Type

Thesis

Abstract

This thesis explores the fluid and often elusive concept of the body as mediated through technology and art, questioning the boundaries between the physical and virtual. By investigating the interactions of cultural ideals, technological mediation, and material experimentation, the research delves into how contemporary art practices can challenge and expand our understanding of embodiment.

Central to this exploration is the use of varied mediums such as sculpture, digital imagery, and installation art to create what I term "virtual bodies"—conceptual entities that exist at the intersection of imagination and material reality. These creations often reflect and critique societal norms regarding beauty, health, and identity, particularly through the lens of the female experience, employing disruptive erotics to challenge the medical and male gaze and their objectifying tendencies.

The work presented aims to provoke thought about the mutable nature of identity in the digital age and to foster a deeper understanding of how art interacts with and reshapes our perceptions of the physical self in increasingly virtual environments.

Language

English

Program Chair

Lisa Bulawsky

Thesis Text Advisor

Heather Bennett

Faculty Mentor

Arny Nadler

Committee Member

Patricia Olynyk

Committee Member

Amy Hauft

Artist's Statement

Is my body imagined?

Uncanny marriages of material morph into sculptural bodies, video monsters, or drawn surrogates who perform for you as both self and other. Flapping over, tucking in, and spilling out; their voluptuous forms flex, sag, and flinch.

I’m acutely aware of my body as it's imagined in the minds of others, and I generate my own imagined bodies to counteract this ‘othering’. These proxies are acts of self-imaging. A boundless contemporary framework of identity, or ‘self’, is defined as something which is both experiential and socially programmed—an ever-metastasizing contradiction which leaves little room for me. Me: the subject and the object. Me: the vibrating desire between.

Whether upholstering velure folds into sculptures, inflating saggy pink balloons, or extruding colon-shaped clay tubes, I question how much of this body—my body—is fundamentally my own.

Phasing through pixels, or clay, or latex, my work asks: is your body real?

Download

Share

COinS