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An Enquiry Into the Expression of Grief and Mourning in Contemporary Art Practice

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An Enquiry Into the Expression of Grief and Mourning in Contemporary Art Practice Living with Loss: An Enquiry into the Expression of Grief and Mourning in Contemporary Art Practice. Sheridan Horn A thesis submitted to Birmingham City University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2018 The Faculty of Arts, Design and Media, Birmingham City University 1 2 Abstract In a secular society, religion no longer dictates the manner in which death and dying is rationalized, nor sets the precedence for observances of grief; how individuals grieve has changed. This thesis formulates two central hypotheses: that a new phenomenon is emerging of the contemporary cenotaph in art, erected either as physical manifestations or digitally on the Internet; that encapsulated within these cenotaphs is a wealth of information concerning the deceased and aspects of artists’ unique grieving processes - the symptoms of loss and trauma are actualized in their work. Artists are reconfiguring religious forms of commemoration and producing secular variants. The aims of this research are threefold: to investigate ways in which artists are forging new approaches to the portrayal of grief and mourning; to explore how these have arisen in an increasingly secular society; to explore through my own practice in response to loss, how art might assume new forms and meanings in a contemporary context. The research aims are investigated through interdisciplinary means including practice-led research, a corpus of wide-ranging artists and artworks, a new methodological approach and theoretical discourses in grief and mourning. The core artists studied are Hannah Wilke, Jo Spence, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Zoe Leonard and Sheridan Horn. Wilke's and Spence’s work is reviewed as the documentation of grief and mourning rather than as feminist polemic. Practice-led research consists of three sculptural expositions. Here-and-Now; Then-and-There was produced to explore how loss registers both overtly and covertly in practitioners' work. It revealed artists embodying experience in materialized forms by mimicking the symptoms of loss, grief and trauma. D(e)ad comprised organic matter ‘performed’ by continuously changing state, actualizing grieving processes. This work was compared to the cenotaphs by Gonzalez-Torres and Leonard and the historical vanitas, itself currently re-emerging as contemporary cenotaph. Grief Shadow represented the dynamic process of grief and mourning in a static work rather than through changes of state. Counterpoint references include the digital cenotaphs of Briony Campbell’s The Dad Project (2009) and the new social phenomenon of extreme embalming. In a society without customary guidelines for grief and mourning, cenotaphs in art are crucial in offering alternative forms of discursive and commemorative practice. iii iv Dedicated to David Cheeseman. v vi Acknowledgements I would like to thank, my supervisors: Henry Rogers, David Cheeseman, Darren Newbury, David Burrows and Stuart Whipps. I am particularly indebted to Henry Rogers and David Cheeseman who have been consistently patient, kind and supportive. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following for their generosity and time - without them my research would have undoubtedly floundered. They are Douglas Atfield (photographer), Tony Jopia (film producer), Sheila Fawkes, Ian Alcantara and Noah Lukehurst (models), Laura Mackeigh, John Hirons, Francis Gerrish and Jason Blood (technicians) and Gill Jopia (artist teacher). I have been humbled by Briony Campbell, Helena Godwin and Sally Tissington who allowed me to interview them about the death of a family member and how it affected both them and their art practice. I also wish to acknowledge the contributions of my family and friends, especially my mother, Eileen Webb, who as my cheerleader said, ‘Let’s face it… you don’t get a PhD free with a packet of crisps!’ Thanks also go to my sister Melissa Webb and daughter Laragh Horn who debated and challenged many of my ideas and thoughts as my research evolved. But most of all I would like to thank Barbara Kirkby, who has been the first reader of my scripts and has diligently proofread all of them several times over. Throughout my research, she has listened to the minutiae of my investigations and concerns and supported me unconditionally. Sustained by a ‘dream team’ I am grateful for having gained the priceless gift of personal enrichment and growth through my research. vii viii Contents Abstract Page ⅰⅰi Dedication v Acknowledgements vii Contents ix List of key illustrations xii Chapter One 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Key terms: loss, grief, mourning, cenotaph, and memorial 5 1.3 Living with dying 7 1.4 Rationale for the selection of artists 9 Chapter Two 2.1 Presentation of the corpus 13 2.2 Literature review of the key artists and works cited: Hannah Wilke (1940-1993) and Jo Spence (1934-1992) 13 2.3 Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) and Zoe Leonard (b.1961) 21 2.4 Theoretical frameworks: an overview of critical discourses surrounding grief and mourning 28 2.5 Research aims, objectives and questions 33 2.6 Methodological frameworks 34 2.7 The four Concepts: Ars moriendi; Anticipatory grief/ Grief; Illness narratives; The abject body 38 2.8 Methods 47 2.9 Statement of Ethics 48 2.10 Death in the photographic image 50 2.11 Thesis structure 53 Chapter Three: Living with loss: Hannah Wilke and Jo Spence 3.1 Introduction 59 ix 3.2 Illness narratives: representations of cancer as imaginary sociocultural constructs 60 3.3 Questioning the personification of cancer 63 3.4 The abject body: even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 73 3.5 A crisis of representation: trauma, testimony, witness and martyrdom 77 3.6 Anticipatory grief: loss, trauma and reparation 89 3.7 Narrative disruption and the shattered self 96 3.8 Ars moriendi: a modern iconography of medicalized death and dying 101 3.9 The conceptualization of medicalized dying as a secular equivalent of a ‘good’ death 116 3.10 Resurrective practice 117 3.11 Conclusion 118 Chapter Four: The construction and dismantling of loss in Here-and-Now; Then-and-There (2012-2013) 4.1 Introduction 125 4.2 Experiencing Here-and-Now; Then-and-There in situ 129 4.3 Mourning as visual ennui 135 4.4 Here-and-Now; Then-and-There no longer exists 138 4.5 The inference of loss and mourning in Here-and-Now; Then-and-There 139 4.6 A photographic memorial work 142 4.7 Conclusion 145 Chapter Five- Vanitas: An exploration of grief and mourning as corporeal and durational experience 5.1 Introduction 149 5.2 An overview of the vanitas 150 5.3 The materialization of illness narratives 158 5.4 The abject body 166 5.5 Ars moriendi: metaphorical enactments of death and dying 175 5.6 Ars moriendi: metaphorical holographic portraits of the dead - resurrective practice of the generic body in the vanitas and of specific individuals in the contemporary art cenotaph 180 5.7 Grief and mourning: premonitions of mortality as elucidated through the vanitas and the actualization of grieving processes as materialized in the contemporary art cenotaph 193 x 5.8 Ephemeral cenotaphs in art 202 5.9 Conclusion 215 Chapter Six: Articulating the void 6.1 Introduction 219 6.2 Null and void 220 6.3 Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows 240 6.4 Cenotaphs in art. The circle closes: as art is bent on imitating life, life imitates art 250 6.5 Conclusion 258 Chapter Seven: Conclusion 7.1 A summary of the aims and significant contributions made to Knowledge 265 Appendices 272 List of illustrations 272 List of References/Bibliography 283 An exhibition of practical work produced by Sheridan Horn shown in partial fulfillment of the final submission. 310 xi List of key illustrations For a list of the illustrations in its entirety please refer to the appendices Figure 1. Gray, C. and Malins, J. (2004) Triangulation. Visualizing research: a guide to the research process in art and design. [pdf] Aldershot, Hants. Ashgate publishing limited, p. 31. Available at: http://www.upv.es/laboluz/master/seminario/textos/Visualizing_Research.pdf [Accessed 23 December 2016]. Page 36 Figure 2. Smith, H. and Dean, R. T., eds. (2010) A model of creative arts and research processes: the iterative cyclic web of practice-led research and research- led practice. Practice-led Research, Research led-Practice in the Creative Arts. [pdf] Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 20. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/91269904/Smith-Hazel-and- Dean- Roger-T-Practice-Led-Research-Research-Led-Practice-in-the-Creative-Arts [Accessed 23 December 2016]. 37 Figure 3. Horn, S. (2018) A representation of the deployment of methodologies: Triangulation, The Iterative Cyclic Web and The Four Concepts. 39 Figure 4. Horn, S. (2018) The four concepts. These conceptual lenses may be utilized in any order as an aid to analysing grief and mourning artworks. When applied in their entirety (that is, one after another) they provide a composite framework that encompasses many facets of ‘living with loss’. 41 Figure 5. Wilke, H. (1978-1981) So Help Me Hannah Series: Portrait of the Artist with her Mother, Selma Butter from the So Help Me Hannah Series. [cibachrome photographs] diptych, 40 x 30 inches each. Copyright Estate of Hannah Wilke. Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York. Available at: http://www.hannahwilke.com/id5.html [Accessed 31 December 2016]. 65 Figure 6. Spence, J. with Dennett, T. (1982) The Property of Jo Spence [black and white print] from The Picture of Health? (1982-1986) Copyright/Courtesy of the Jo Spence Memorial Archive. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/spence-crisis-project-picture- of-health-property-of-jo-spence-p80410 [Accessed 31 December 2016]. 66 Figure 7. Spence, J. with Dennett, T.
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