THE INDEFINITIVE SELF: Subject As Process in Visual Art
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THE INDEFINITIVE SELF: subject as process in visual art Courtney Pedersen Bachelor of Fine Art (VCA) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Creative Industries Research and Application Centre QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY CONTENTS ABSTRACT i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE 7 Identity and the Question of Genealogy CHAPTER TWO 35 Case Study: Tracey Moffatt CHAPTER THREE 58 Case Study: Mona Hatoum CHAPTER FOUR 85 Case Study: Pipilotti Rist CHAPTER FIVE 107 Case Study: Courtney Pedersen CHAPTER SIX 142 Last Drinks Gentlemen Please – project diary CONCLUSION 164 Appendix I 169 Original catalogue essay Appendix II 171 Transcription of text from Last Drinks Gentlemen Please BIBLIOGRAPHY 172 ABSTRACT THE INDEFINITIVE SELF: subject as process in visual art This doctoral study is comprised of both creative work and accompanying critical study and exegesis, each comprising 50 per cent of the total weight of submission. The body of research develops a feminist genealogical methodology to explore the study’s central idea: that envisioning the feminine subject as process rather than a fixed entity enables political agency without recourse to rigid essentialism. The creative work, a public space installation in South Brisbane Cemetery at Dutton Park, is titled Last Drinks Gentlemen Please and traces the life and character of my great, great aunt Cecilia Mary Tennant (1875-1938). Documentation and discussion of this work is included in the exegesis and can also be viewed online at the web address http://www.GMTplus10.info/. The thesis presents a critical contextualisation analysing the work of the artists Tracey Moffatt, Mona Hatoum and Pipilotti Rist, as well as my own practice, and identifies key strategies enabling the representation of identity as process. Finally, this study proposes the figure of the Aunt as an elective relationship that enables both intimacy and agency beyond patriarchal constructions of the feminine. i The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature: Date: ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During this degree I was fortunate to receive an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship and this enabled me to undertake and complete my research. My thanks go to Dr Brad Haseman and the staff of CIRAC and Visual Art who have provided infrastructure and support. The creative work would not have been possible without the support of Cr Helen Abrahams of Dutton Park Ward and Brisbane City Council Cemeteries and I am immensely grateful to them. Mr L. Peter Miller from the Narrabri Historical Society was of great assistance and his perseverance unearthed material that would have otherwise been lost forever. I would like to acknowledge the support of my supervisors, Dr Andrew McNamara and Ms Jill Barker, who have provided great insight, encouragement and understanding during the course of this doctoral study. They have my eternal respect and gratitude. I also thank Mr Mark Webb, my studio supervisor during my Master of Arts (Research), for encouraging me to pursue the Doctor of Philosophy and my supervisory team during that time, Dr Toni Ross and Donal Fitzpatrick. This work has been made possible by the encouragement and assistance provided by my family and friends: my talented and patient partner, Charles Robb, our son Atticus (who is now very familiar with cemeteries), Justin Avery, Tracey Avery, Stephen Banham, Penelope Davie, the Drake family, Clarice Duff, Christine Eid, Stuart Fyfe, Dr Lisanne Gibson, Jo Grant, Pamela and Stephen Green, Cassvellyn Green, Fabienne Green, Cath and Joel James-Meadows (it will be solar next time), Mrs M. Jenner, Peter Milne, Lennai and Ron Pedersen, Norma Riemer, Bruce and Berice Robb, the other members of the Robb clan and Dr Lydia Rusch. Finally, very special thanks and acknowledgements need to go to my mother, my grandmothers and all my aunts, who inspired this project to begin with. iii INTRODUCTION This body of research began as a Masters of Research over four years ago with what appeared a very simple question: how do women artists evade the limitations of essentialist models of female identity and still find a functioning creative or social ‘space’ for political expression? I was particularly interested in the practice of artists who melded a feminist sensibility with political concerns relating to very particular issues impacting on the nature of feminist activism, whether issues of race, class or culture — where other meets other, as it were. From that initial perspective, it seemed to me that an artistic practice grappling with multiple issues often avoided prescriptive hierarchies within those issues, allowing for a marked fluidity of discourse. This fluidity, which may have been expected to weaken the political force of their artwork, appeared to have exactly the opposite effect. In fact, the emphasis upon fluidity meant that the political ramifications of their artworks could not be avoided and often formed the central core of any discussion of their work long after discussions of more didactic and prescriptive work had died away. This initial interest in a practice of fluidity led me into a critical comparison of essentialist versus non-essentialist models of identity. Essentialism, for the purpose of this study, refers to the belief that within each identity (woman, African, indigene etc) there is an unchanging core, or essence, that remains consistent and unchanging regardless of time or social conditions. This ‘core of identity’ has often been invoked as a useful rallying tool for campaigns of liberation — for example, in women’s rights 1 or post-colonial independence— but it has also proved to be a double-edged sword. The common criticism of essentialism is that it ‘fixes’ the subject within an identity prison and excludes the possibility of difference. As Diana Fuss has pointed out, “The opposition [of essentialism vs difference] is a helpful one in that it reminds us that a complex system of cultural, social, psychical, and historical differences, and not a set of pre-existent human essences, position and constitute the subject.”(Fuss 1989:xi-xii) Yet Fuss also reminds us that a simple binary opposition of essentialism and difference can lead us to ignore the many complexities inherent to (and differences within) essentialism. Fluidity, the embracing of difference and particularity, has been seen by some as a useful strategy for combating the strictures of essentialism, but it can also be perceived as undermining the efforts of those who seek to improve social conditions or draw attention to issues of social injustice — for example, sexism, racism or religious persecution. The argument being that solidarity or unity is the most effective weapon against oppression. These complications are particularly salient when looking at the work of artists who appear to be grappling with this same dichotomy within their practices. In particular, I was led to the work of Australian photographer and filmmaker, Tracey Moffatt, expatriate Palestinian artist, Mona Hatoum and Swiss video and installation artist, Pipilotti Rist. All three artists have artistic practices that deal directly with issues of sexuality and gender while simultaneously engaging with other formations of power, whether it be racialised identity, cultural disenfranchisement, or the dynamics of consumer capitalism. 2 In addition I was logging my own experiences of an art practice that was increasingly concerned with establishing ‘conversations’ between the different realms of political activism, and also between the realms of the public domain and private life, discovering an ambiguity that naturally occurred on these borders. The history of identity politics consequently formed the backdrop for this research and, as such, forms a significant portion of the first chapter in this thesis. Yet, at the same time my own practice-led research was prompting me to focus increasingly on the single motif of genealogy as both a symptom of social power relations and a strategy for re-negotiating those same dynamics. Consequently, this overview of the history of identity politics segues into a more specific discussion of the idea of genealogy, feminist attempts to reframe the traditions of genealogy in order to account for more fluid constructions of identity and the possible ramifications of those interventions. In the artist case studies that follow, it is my assertion that all three of the artists discussed engage with a project of ‘alternative genealogy,’ albeit in dramatically different ways. I see my own concurrent project — a lengthy reassessment of Australian history and my own family’s position within it — as also being directly linked to this central idea. No sustained discussion of feminist genealogy could be attempted without seriously engaging with the work of French feminist philosopher, Luce Irigaray and it is her (sometimes problematic) insistence on a sexed subjectivity arising from the re- 3 establishment of a feminine genealogy that forms the backbone of the theoretical discussion taking place in this thesis. Chapter one in this thesis looks at the theoretical ground covered by my initial research into the dynamics of identity politics and ends with a discussion of feminine genealogy as a potential strategy. Chapters two, three and four are case studies of the three artists mentioned above, Moffatt, Hatoum and Rist. Chapter five discusses the history of my own practice and the ways in which my research project constitutes a development of (and return to) certain ideas that have been surfacing within my work over a fourteen year period. Chapter six consists of writing compiled from my own project diary and the collection of historical research material vital to the realisation of my project. Finally, I have concluded with a summary of conclusions drawn from both my academic research and the project that accompanied it.