Remembering the Past in Visual and Visionary Ways: Rhetorically Exploring the Narrative Potentialities of Esther Parada’s Memory Art A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Stephanie L. Young August 2009 © 2009 Stephanie L. Young. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled Remember the Past in Visual and Visionary Ways: Rhetorically Exploring the Narrative Potentialities of Esther Parada’s Memory Art by STEPHANIE L. YOUNG has been approved for the School of Communication Studies and the Scripps College of Communication by William K. Rawlins Stocker Professor of Communication Studies Gregory J. Shepherd Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii ABSTRACT YOUNG, STEPHANIE L., Ph.D., August 2009, Communication Studies Remembering the Past in Visual and Visionary Ways: Rhetorically Exploring the Narrative Potentialities of Esther Parada’s Memory Art (264 pp.) Director of Dissertation: William K. Rawlins Rhetorical scholars have examined the ways in which memory is visually and materially enacted. While most research has concentrated on national scale subjects (e.g., the Vietnam War, the Oklahoma City bombing, the attacks of September 11th) when exploring collective memory, little attention has been given to vernacular engagements with the past. Memory art provides a rich area of inquiry for investigating rhetorical techniques used by artists to memorialize and inventively (re)create visions of familial memory and communal pasts. This dissertation explores the narrative capacity of artwork and how visual texts can be narratively experienced to engage with collective memories. Drawing upon theories in feminism, rhetoric, and collective memory, I theorize a visual narrative perspective grounded in a Bakhtinian understanding of dialogic intertextuality. This perspective views narrative as a sense-making process in which the rhetor and viewer intertextually co-construct textual meanings. Textual meanings of photographic images, specifically memory art, are intertextually co-produced through the dialogic interaction amongst rhetor, artifact, and viewer. Audiences converse with artists through images, merging their subjective knowledges and voices with the artist’s intentions. Specifically, I examine three artworks by Chicago-based artist Esther Parada to highlight this theory of visual narrativity. First, I explore the photomural Past Recovery iii and examine how Parada utilizes different visual tropes to invite me into the text. Then, I investigate the hypertext, Transplant: A Tale of Three Continents, and consider how the multilinear structure elicits narrative co-constructions. Finally, I analyze the multimedia installation piece, When the Bough Breaks and examine how different traces encourage a (re)piecing together of loss and memories. Collectively, Parada’s photographic works provide alternative ways of seeing and remembering personal and collective pasts. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ William K. Rawlins Stocker Professor of Communication Studies Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Benjamin R. Bates Assistant Professor of Communication Studies iv For my parents and Jeremy, with love v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank several people for their contribution to this dissertation. First, I thank my co-advisor, Dr. William K. Rawlins, for his belief in me and in my abilities as a scholar. I thank Dr. Rawlins, an amazing mentor and friend who encouraged me to be vulnerable in my writing, for his rich feedback, his guidance, and his enthusiasm for this project. I also extend my deepest gratitude to my co-advisor, Dr. Benjamin R. Bates, for his meticulous editorial skills and rhetorical expertise and for continuously challenging me to write beyond what I thought I was capable of doing. I thank my dissertation committee—Dr. Raymie McKerrow, Dr. Lynn Harter, and Dr. Thomas Patin—for their commitment to making this dissertation a solid contribution to the field of communication. I thank Esther Parada's family and friends, especially her sisters Margo and Susie who shared with me their love and memories of "Essie." They donated vital personal and academic documents and granted me access to Esther's papers at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Without their blessings, this dissertation would not have been possible. A big thank you to Rod Slemmons, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago; Julia Hendry, University Archivist at the University of Illinois in Chicago; and all of the archival specialists at UIC. I also am grateful for all of my friends who supported me in this scholarly and personal endeavor. I thank Sarah Smith and Anne Mitchell, my two writing group friends, who offered me their rich, constructive criticism and emotional support with each chapter. I warmly thank Dr. Tabassum "Ruhi" Khan for her friendship and our dynamic conversations. A special thank you to Sharon and Joe Lime for their succor. And I thank vi my friends Laura, Sukanya, Suzy, Heather, Jen, Eileen, and Corey for all of their thoughts and words of confidence. I also am indebted to my parents, Tom and Soon Young, for all of their love and support. Since I was very young, they have instilled in me a thirst for knowledge and a deep conviction in education. I appreciate my brother, Steve, for serendipitously empowering me with patience and perseverance. I especially thank Jeremy, my best friend and life partner, for his enduring love and faith in me. I thank him for his compassionate words of encouragement, for being an intimate part of the writing and revision process, and for putting up with all of my madness these past few years. His editorial fingerprints may be found all over this scholarly project. Finally, I thank Esther Parada for her passion to connect visually and creatively with others. Through her artwork, Esther has inspired me to explore issues of memory, family, and the past. With this dissertation, I honor her memory. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introductions ..................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Review of Literature ....................................................................................... 10 Collective Memory: How We Remember, How We Forget ........................................ 10 Memory Art .................................................................................................................. 16 Photography and the Familial ....................................................................................... 22 Photography and Narrative Sense-Making ................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: Reflecting on Rhetorical Practices: A Research Narrative ............................. 41 Extending Rhetorical Criticism: A Visual Narrative Perspective ................................ 41 Diving into the Archives: Selection, Reconstruction, and Analysis ............................. 46 (Re)collecting Intertextual Fragments ...................................................................... 46 Narratively Experiencing and Rhetorically Analyzing Visual Texts ........................ 51 Writing as a Way of Knowing ...................................................................................... 58 Concluding Thoughts .................................................................................................... 61 Chapter 4: Resassembling the Past: Examining Visual Tropes and a Rhetoric of Montage in Esther Parada's Past Recovery ...................................................................................... 65 Visual Tropes ................................................................................................................ 67 The Grid ........................................................................................................................ 70 Theoretical background ............................................................................................ 70 viii Grid as narrative plotting .......................................................................................... 73 Superimposition ............................................................................................................ 78 Theoretical background ............................................................................................ 78 Superimposition: Revealing Spatial, Temporal, and Mental Spaces ........................ 80 Disruption and Re-conception: A Rhetoric of Montage ............................................... 86 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 5: Hypertextual Narratives and (Re)presentations of the Past: Investigating Parada's Transplant ........................................................................................................... 94 Hypertextuality ............................................................................................................