i MIRRORING THE SELF: DEVELOPING REPRESENTATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR LENS BASED ART Mandakini Devi A Thesis submitted to the University of Gloucestershire in accordance with the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Fine Arts, Department of Media Art and Technology. October 2018 Word Count : 28716 ii iii Acknowledgements I feel deep gratitude to the University of Gloucestershire for providing me with an exemplary supervisory team in Andrew Bick, Nat Godden and Angus Pryor. Andrew Bick has given me the confidence to be able to follow through my ideas as an artist by providing me with key critical insights over the last four years. Andrew has been a pillar of support, steering me through stormy waters, and at the same time keeping the doldrums at bay. What I am most grateful for is his advice and guidance regarding and manner in which I needed build on my research and practice, by giving pointers to relevant exhibitions and artists of significance that immensely added to my practice and research. Nat Godden’s trenchant observations and his surgical precision in reading my complex sentences and aberrant punctuation of the many drafts that has greatly helped to organize my thoughts and writing in a systematic and structured manner. Nat’s sharp and meticulous comments have refined and sculpted my own ability to express my self critically. I would like to thank Angus Pryor for inducting me to the practice based research studies at the University of Gloucestershire and his steady and unstinting support throughout my period at Cheltenham. My thanks to Dr. Ros Jennings and Dr. John Hockey for organizing a warm and vibrant research summer school, where I was yet again exposed to a new set of skills that have enable me to engage with areas of research that were different to my own. I would like to thank my team of technicians Ashley Benson, Matt Friedrickson, Lisa Lavery and Alex Glenn whose inputs provided me with the necessary technical skills to develop a body of lens based work in Cheltenham. iv I would like to thank my parents – my father for his time and effort in intervening in the most tedious tasks of meticulous proof reading and formatting of text. My mother for her military like discipline in enabling me to understand the rigours of time management. Her industrial strength regulation really ensured that I could meet the demands of producing a significant body of writing. Not to forget the sumptuous meals which were prepared in the warmth of our open kitchen. In India I had my own small studio which was largely responsible for refining all the work I had conceived conceptualized and developed in Cheltenham. My thanks to my friend of many years Sourav Brahmachari, a graphic designer who helped me in bringing clarity to my presentations and finer aspects of my graphic inputs for installation of my exhibitions and show reel. My thanks also to: Nitin Donde for his extensive informal animation workshops which I had enrolled for where that I created my own digital collages and animations. Dr Sonal Parmar who asked me difficult questions about my work which set me thinking in another direction. Jaideep Pandey and Jaipdeep Krishnan who from time to time helped me edit portions of my work. Their initial edits helped sharpen my meandering thought and I was able to work on my initial drafts. My team of assistants without whom I would have been lost - Ravi Rawat and Saurabh Rai who ran around and helped me out with my technical snags and scans. Ram Lal, my framer, who was always present and patient with the many ideas which I was experimenting with in the conceiving of the display of my work. v At the end I would like to thank my extended family and friends, in India and Cheltenham who gave me unconditional love during all my lows and difficult times. vi Abstract Women artists are notable producers of self-portraits; almost all significant women painters have left an example of such work. They have historically embodied a number of roles within their self-portraiture. With the emergence of the photographic record many women artists have produced a significant body of self-images; unparalleled amongst the work of their male colleagues, that continues to resonate in the practice of contemporary women artists Self-referentiality as a thinking process investigates the experiences shaping the artist’s identity, which in return exerts an influence on the process of making of the art object. In terms of my own position as an artist born in India and educated both in India and in the UK I explore ideas of the self and of the transient self, where the ambiguity of moving between geographies is also the ambiguity of moving between versions of identity. Through a set of three primary questions this thesis attempts to question 1. What is the meaning of self-referential art in current terminology, with specific reference to women working with photography and film in the contemporary context? 2. How do contemporary women artists negotiate issues on gender and identity using the self as a starting point? 3. How can the embodiment of such issues in lens–based and digitally inflected media reflect a subjective, exploratory and expressive engagement with gender and identity politics? vii By comparing the practices of contemporary women artists from India and the West, through a set of video and digital collages, the idea is to demonstrate self- representation as a signifier of cultural positions in different global and post-colonial contexts. Issues of gender, identity, feminism, sexuality, and cultural hybridity are foregrounded in the art works specially created as part of the inquiry. The research and the art works are generated from a personal record of images reflecting cultural signifiers of gender and identity across different cultures and art contexts of India and the West. Key Words Mirror-self, lens, photography, gender, identity, sexuality, cultural hybridity, feminism, video, digital collages,. viii I declare that the work in this thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations of the University of Gloucestershire and is original except where indicated by specific reference in the text. No part of this thesis has been submitted as part of any other academic award. The thesis has not been presented to any other education institution in the United Kingdom or overseas. Any views expressed are those of the Author and in no way represent those of the University. Signed ………………………… Dated…………………………...9th October, 2018 ix Mirroring the Self: Strategies for Representing the Self in Lens-based Art Table of Contents Page No: Introduction I. Rationale 1 - 2 II. Aims 2 - 3 III. Objectives 3 IV. Research Methods/Methodology 4 - 6 Chapter 1 Framework 1.1 Creative Outcomes-Practical Considerations 7 - 8 1.2 Contextual Framework 8 - 14 1.3 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 14 - 19 1.4 Conceptual Framework-Performing Narratives of the Self 19 - 20 1.5 Performing the Self- Digital Collages 20 - 21 1.6 Narratives of the Self- Video and Photographic Essays 21 - 23 Chapter 2 Methodology 24 - 37 x Chapter 3 Technologies and Self-Representation 38 3.1 Physical Technologies 38 - 40 3.2 Digital Technologies 41 - 42 3.3 The Manipulated Image-montage, collage, the manual and digital manipulated image and their affinity for self-representation 42 - 45 3.4 Comparative Analysis of the spaces and modes of self-representation—pre- and post-digital 45 - 49 Chapter 4 Self-Portraiture and the Idea of the Self 4.1 The (traditional) philosophical, social and psychological idea of the self in the West and India 50 - 53 4.2 Modern and contemporary ideas of the Self 53 4.2.1 Gender and equality 54 - 55 4.2.2 Racial and post-colonial identity 55 - 56 4.2.3 Online virtual identity 56 4.3 Self-portraiture in Western and Indian Art -traditions of representation 56 - 60 4.4 Self-portraiture in India 60 - 66 xi 4.5 Breaking free of the traditional ‘portrait’ -contemporary modes of self-representation in India and the West 66 - 68 4.6 Contemporary India (20th. To 21st. CE) 68 - 71 Chapter 5 Studio Practice 72 5.1 Video works 5.1.1 Video 1 Nowhere Times 72 - 76 5.1.2 Video 2 Red Room 76 - 79 5.1.3 The Pop-Up Tear Shop 79 - 82 5.1.4 Video 4 Love Hope and Faith 82 - 85 5.1.5 Video 5 Cromptons at Honeywell 85 - 88 5.2 Digital collages 88 - 96 5.3 Photobook 97 - 99 5.4 Saptamatrikas: seven mothers 2017 99 - 102 Chapter 6 Summary and Conclusion 103 - 109 xii Appendices- Reflective journal 110 - 155 Literature review 156 - 164 Documentation of the Thesis Exhibition held on 10th July, 2018 165 - 175 Bibliography 176 - 192 Art works in Thesis - Showreel Separate video file, uploaded Art works in Exhibition - Showreel-2 Separate video file, uploaded 1 Mirroring the Self: Strategies for Representing the Self in Lens-based Art Introduction The human body is the oldest and most immediately available subject of art. Although the female body has more or less always featured in art as a model, women as active protagonists have been excluded from the discourse, systems and hierarchies of art. (Christine Bohler, 2009)1 I. Rationale: This practice based research explores specific connections between the practices of female artists working with digital media in India and the U.K. It is a personal exploration, using the artist’s own digital footage going back fourteen years since 2003, along with an analysis of contemporary discourse on feminine and identity.