MFA Graduation Show
Massey University, Wellington, NZ
2010
Exegesis Abstract – ‘Spinning in my Mother’s Garden: a search for subjectivity’
Is female subjectivity possible within a patriarchal system? The following discussion investigates feminist thought though equality, difference and androgyny, mapping the achievements, setbacks, advantages and disadvantages of each through the theories of Luce Irigaray, Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva and others.
Discussing Irigaray’s thoughts on disrupting the symbolic with mimesis and hysteria, how intersubjectivity might be possible through a syntax appropriate to women and the possibility of female genealogies through craft and the work of artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesse.
Derrida’s theory of Différance is used in relation to Irigaray’s ideas of difference and morphology. And allows for Kristeva’s thoughts on the essential meaning of language being in a constant state of flux and therefore fixed definitions of identity are pointless.
Virginia Woolf’s use of androgyny and modernist style in her writing is considered in relation to Kristeva’s ideas of revolutionary writing, and how destructive fixed gendered identities can be. The deconstruction of masculine and feminine identities is advocated by Kristeva to allow for individuality and subjectivity.
Works Included
Untitled (Rainbow), digital photograph, 2009
Untitled (Shuffle), video, 19 min, 2008
Untitled (Drawing Performance), A4 paper, colour pencil, variable size, 2009
Untitled (Bud), video, 20 min, 2009
Untitled (APPLAUSE #2), 2 light-boxes, 740 x 180 x 120 mm each, 2009
Untitled (Landscape), video, 2 min 30 sec, 2008
Untitled (Cross Stitch), mixed media, 18 at 255 x 255 mm, 2009
Other Works From This Project
Untitled, A4 inkjet photocopies, variable size, 2008
Untitled (Performance), paper, pencil, stickers, 420 x 594 mm each, 2008
Untitled (Drawing), video, 12 min, 2008
Untitled (Headstand), video, 4 min, 2008
Untitled (Bulb), video, 2 min 17 sec, 2009
Untitled (Countdown), video, 1 min 40 sec, 2008
Untitled (APPLAUSE), light-box, 740 x 180 x 120 mm, 2009