Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2019
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art
Degree Type
Thesis
Abstract
This text examines the complexity of attempting to empathize with bodies that are vastly othered from my own. This broad yet nuanced subject crosses epistemological boundaries and complicates the dualities between both the mind and body, and between the corporeal and the virtual. My desire to better understand the conditions of another’s experience originates from a painful traumatic loss which caused me to feel isolated and incomplete. In response to this suffering, I long to emotionally connect with other beings and create artwork that attempts to bridge the qualia of individual experience.
I am interested in the capacity (or lack thereof) to empathize with othered bodies; human, animal, non-human and virtual. As a result, my work involves discourse around the parameters that constitute being considered alive, the ability of cross-species empathy through shared experiences of embodiment, as well as corporeal relationships with digital technology and cyberspace. I utilize the media of digital photography along with 3D modeling and animation software to create abject amalgams of human flesh. Through the freedom of the digital medium, I can visually depict internal conflict in a way that transcends corporeal limitations. I manipulate representations of tangible bodies, placing them in surreal non-spaces that I intend to be suggestive of psychological states or digital voids. By doing so, I hope to not only convey intangible emotions of pain, but also speak to the complexity of understanding corporeal indeterminacy and a fragmentation of identity within a virtual environment unbound by physical limitations.
Language
English (en)
Program Director
Patricia Olynyk
Program Director's Department
Graduate School of Art
Thesis Advisor
Monika Weiss
Studio/Primary Advisor
Patricia Olynyk
Studio/Primary Advisor
Cheryl Wassenaar
Committee Member
Ila Sheren
Committee Member
Ila Sheren
Recommended Citation
Page, Bryan, "Its Skin is My Skin" (2019). Graduate School of Art Theses. ETD 121. https://doi.org/10.7936/x8cb-sk29.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/samfox_art_etds/121
Included in
Animal Studies Commons, Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Behavioral Neurobiology Commons, Biomechanics Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Neuroscience Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Interactive Arts Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Philosophy of Mind Commons, Photography Commons, Psychology of Movement Commons, Sculpture Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons, Visual Studies Commons
Artist's Statement
www.bryanpagefineart.com
Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/x8cb-sk29