MAPPING AN ARM’S LENGTH: Body, Space and the Performativity of Drawing Roohi Shafiq Ahmed A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. 2013 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. 28th March 2013 Date ……………………………………………................. ! DECLARATIONS Copyright Statement I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation. Signed ……………………………………………........................... 28th March 2013 Date …………………………………………….............................. Authenticity Statement I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format. Signed ……………………………………………........................... 28th March 2013 Date …………………………………………….............................. ABSTRACT This research is based on the assertion that personal histories, memories and associations require conduits through which to form a viable mode of expression. Here my own body is the conduit through which I perform and record the world around me; drawing is taken as performative, building on the arguments of art curators and writers Cornelia H. Butler and Catherine de Zegher. The body is a dynamic mechanism that incorporates variable patterns of movement, occupation, and density, and the space surrounding it therefore becomes a highly charged zone of intertwined activity between the physical and the psychical. Anzieu Didier identifies this space as an area where pacts are negotiated between outside and inside, and where meaningful encounters take place between the two. It is the liminal space of the skin that bears the traces of such encounters. From this perspective the thesis focuses on various types of mark making between the body and its immediately surrounding spaces. It investigates the physical, historical and conceptual perception of an ‘arm’s length’, that distance between body and world. Through the performativity of drawing the research critically examines this space as measuring, mapping and covering the body in relation to gesture and form. It charts meaningful encounters between the body and space through a number of visual methods, unconventional materials and practices, including the body as both instrument and site of such performances. My resulting works are cartographies, a type of visual mapping that charts the socio-political and religious boundaries experienced by a Muslim female body in various spaces. But more than this, they also give rise to one’s ability to navigate the various boundaries that continually reconfigure the perception of a given space, time and location in relation to the body. CONTENTS Figures --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02 Glossary ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06 Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 Chapter One: Points of Departure ---------------------------------------------- 18 Area of Investigation ----------------------------------------------- 18 Body, Space and Performativity in Drawing ------------------- 21 Chapter Two: Measuring the Body ---------------------------------------------- 31 Vitruvian Man ------------------------------------------------------ 31 Point (Nuqta) and Line (Khatt) ----------------------------------- 33 Circle (Da-ira) and Square (Mu-raba) -------------------------- 34 The Figure ----------------------------------------------------------- 37 An Arm’s Length --------------------------------------------------- 39 Chapter Three: Mapping and Covering the Body ----------------------------- 45 Mapping ------------------------------------------------------------- 45 Map Making -------------------------------------------------------- 46 Mapping the Body: From Perfect Order to Symbolic Order - 46 Covering and Enveloping ----------------------------------------- 49 Veiling --------------------------------------------------------------- 52 Chapter Four: Studio Practice: Research Outcomes ------------------------- 55 Process --------------------------------------------------------------- 55 Progress -------------------------------------------------------------- 58 Research Outcomes: Discussion of Artworks ------------------ 59 Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 70 Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------------- 73 1 FIGURES Figure 0.1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09 Map of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Accessed 23 March 2013. Source: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bangladesh_War_of_Independence Figure 0.2: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Roohi Ahmed, Hey + Meem (Urdu alphabets) = Hum (Us) – 2000. Colour pencil, ink, bitumen, paper and Xerox transfer on gypsum board, 20 x 30 cm Figure 0.3: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Roohi Ahmed, [L to R] South Asia, Political – 2000, Geodetic Datum Unknown, 2000, colour pencil, ink, bitumen, paper and Xerox transfer on gypsum board, 72 x 46 cm each Figure 0.4: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Life-drawing class taking place at the Karachi School of Art (May 2011), author’s photograph Figure 0.5: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Roohi Ahmed, Karachi series, 2000. Colour pencils, inks, bitumen, paper and Xerox transfer on gypsum board, 70 x 52 cm each Figure 0.6: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Roohi Ahmed, Lifeline I, 2006. Fabric, silk threads, metal, glass and velvet, dimensions variable Figure 0.7: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Dervishes revolving with their outstretched arms to the rhythm of ney. Yelda Barel, Skylife, Turkish Airlines Journal No.245, Vol. 12 (2003), pg. 92 Figure 0.8: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Images from an active millimeter wave body scanner. Accessed 23 March 2013. Source: https://www.privacyinternational.org/blog/pi-statement-on-proposed- deployments-of-body-scanners-in-airports-0 Figure 1.1: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Roohi Ahmed, Hands On series – 2011, carbon pigment and colour pencils on paper Figure 1.2: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Roohi Ahmed, drawing with the body on sand, Perry Sand Hills, Wentworth, New South Wales, Australia, 2012 Figure 1.3: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Aboriginal rock painting representing two hands. Silhouettes of hands as evidence of masking the rock from the sprayed paint. Carnarvon Gorge, Queensland, Australia Figure 1.4: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Mike Parr, Integration 3 (Leg spiral) 1975, printed 2001, 4 gelatin silver photographs. Accessed 23 March 2013. Source: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/99.2001.a-d/ Figure 1.5: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Mike Parr, Close The Concentration Camps 2002, performance. Monash University Museum