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Silent witnesses : re-interpreting the still life tradition

thesis
posted on 2023-05-27, 13:36 authored by Watson, SF
This research investigates how simple domestic objects can be employed as visual metaphors for vulnerability, entrapment and unfulfilled expectations experienced by many women who take on primary domestic roles. In its use of domestic objects as visual metaphors, the project locates itself within the context of the still life genre but at the same time seeks to re-interpret this tradition in a way which makes it relevant to contemporary concerns. The exegesis contextualises the project through discussion of what the domestic object traditionally symbolised in the history of Western art, specifically looking at the still life and narrative genre painting which used the domestic object to deliver moralising and ideological messages. The discussion then focuses, on artists who in the twentieth century re-deployed domestic objects in other ways, wresting them from their traditional meanings. Of particular relevance to the project is how artists moved away from painterly depictions of domestic objects to assimilating the ephemera of daily life into their work and also how they have invested them with meanings which challenge the traditional concept of home as a safe and nurturing environment. In this regard, the artists who have been most relevant to the project have been feminist artists such as Donna Marcus, Vivienne Binns, Helen Fuller, Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro and Louise Bourgeois. These artists reference domestic objects as an appropriate visual vehicle to tell their stories, seek equality and reconcile their identities as both women and artists. The outcomes of studio-based investigations are encapsulated in a suite of mixed media artworks that explore different ways of engaging with domestic objects. The materials include paper and glass to reference vulnerability and fragility, while all the objects have been made using recycled materials and collage to invoke memory of a lived experience. Everyday acts of sewing and patchwork are employed to parallel the tedium, repetition and the entrapment of domestic obligations. The use of symbolism and metaphor connect my work to the historic tradition of still life; the use of found objects, materials and process connect it to the many conceptual and material changes that have affected the genre over the last one hundred years. Whilst the project acknowledges that the still life does not hold the same cultural importance that it once had, it does, however, suggest that this tradition can be re-interpreted and re-worked to express current day concerns, particularly those pertaining to the experience of women and the domestic sphere. As such, it builds on the works of feminist artists such as Chicago and Schapiro but, at the same time, goes beyond their concerns of celebrating the female crafts.

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Copyright 2010 the Author Thesis (MFA)--University of Tasmania, 2010. Includes bibliographical references. The domestic object as condenser of meaning -- Art and the domestic object -- Context. Part 1: Still life and real life. Part 2: Feminism and the use of the domestic object in contemporary art -- Studio practice -- Conclusion and significance of the project

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