My thesis is centered on poetics of the body in contemporary feminist art. Poetics, understood as the languages, materials and forms of composition, underscores the symbolically and socially mediated body so rendered, rather than its biological, anatomical, or otherwise 'natural' definition. A feminist poetics is at once a politics, and a creation, of language. I proceed through a close reading of a number of artworks by Canadian artists. These works 'resist' representation, foregoing a biologically grounded figuration to propose in more allusive terms the psychic and conceptual impulses through which the body is apprehended or might be imagined. / Influenced by the writings of Luce Irigaray on the structural isomorphism between logos, the phallus, and a privileged masculine model of subjectivity, the thesis investigates the construction within feminist art of alternative and contestatory poetics of the body potentially productive of other knowledge-effects. / Situating my investigation within the context of numerous 'figurations' of the subject that have emerged in recent feminist theory, I propose that feminist art practices provide a corollary contribution, in material form, to the theoretical project of thinking 'difference' beyond dualism. / I identify three modalities of practice that 're-make' the body/embodiment vis a vis a 'phallomorphic' model of identity, unity, self-sameness: (a) the body in/of language, as the imbrication of the two identified by Julia Kristeva through the category of the semiotic; (b) morphologies of the body as the imaginary body produced through an interweaving of the body's form, psychic dispensations and social/symbolic inscriptions; (c) constructed spatialities in which the material spaces of exhibition sites become enacted metaphoric spaces, and foreground the potential and import of spatial representations in the production of personal and social experience. / I argue that the forms, materialities and spatialities specific to visual art can serve to constitute analogues for the materiality of the body. The thesis considers the artworks as embodiments: at once material, textural and spatial 'bodies' of art. / Interdisciplinary in scope, this thesis brings together visual and textual sources drawn from contemporary art and the literatures of feminist (and) poststructuralist theory, cultural studies, postcolonial theory and the field of art history and criticism.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Fine Art in the Department of Fine Art, Durban Institute of Technology, 2006. / This study will investigate and critically evaluate the reconstitution of African women’s spiritualities in the context of the Amazwi Abesifazane project. This project forms part of the endeavours of Create Africa South, a Non Governmental Organisation situated in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, which was initiated by the artist Andries Botha. It encourages women, post trauma, to ‘re-member’ themselves by creating memory cloths of embroidery and appliqué reflecting on their experiences in pre- and post-apartheid South Africa. This interdisciplinary study theorises that it is an archive that speaks about African women resisting destructive forces and reconstituting their spiritualities through the therapeutic effects of creativity. The study will not include research into the many other activities undertaken by Create Africa South. Rupture is implied in the use of the word ‘reconstitution’. Reconstitution encompasses the act of constituting again the character of the body, mind and spirit as regards health, strength and well-being of the women (McIntosh, 1970:261). In this study, spirituality is defined as the way in which the women in the Amazwi Abesifazane project reflect upon and live out their belief in God. The power of storytelling is examined from the perspectives of narratology, narrative therapy, sewing and orality/literary studies as resources for the women’s reclamation of their lives. Defining feminisms in South Africa is problematised by issues of race, class and culture. In a context of poverty, everyday survivalist strategies are the diverse forms of resistance seen in the Amazwi Abesifazane project. The women’s stories, cloths and interviews are triangulated as primary data. They are examples of the rich art of resistance against despair and are located in a paradigm of hope. In conclusion, I strongly call for government support in declaring the project a national archive. The multidimensional mediums of the Amazwi Abesifazane/ UbuMama projects nurture the women’s creativity and revitalise their spiritualities towards personal and national transformation.

This essay documents a year of exploring how to continue to be creative, experimental and intuitive within an art institution. It provides a context and thus academic shelter for a non-linear, experimental process of making drawings, sculpture and site-specific work. The essay has three layers; the contextual document, images which show the process of making, as well as a narrative written in experimental poetry which describes the embodied process of making through collaged journal writing. The images are interspersed through the essay, while the poetry provides an alternative narrative and is printed on the back pages of the essay. ‘Building’ is used as an active metaphor for the creative process, as well as buildings as sites for research and installation of adaptive sculptures. Building as a metaphor for unchanging narratives will be contrasted with artists whose work challenges the unitary nature of a functional building through their interventions. Using the body to make meaning is discussed in a feminist context, as an alternative this model to linear, rational thinking. This also questions and problematizes the heroic male artist body. Performing the making through a female body will be discussed and issues of privacy and proximity covered. A potential solution to these issues will be explored in using abstraction to create active meaning, thus implicating the body of the audience as well as the artist.

Thesis (M.A. (Hons.))--University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1995. / Bibliography: leaves 59-66; includes bibliographical footnotes.

Thesis (MFA)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Art and Art History and Dept. of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2008. / "A dissertation in art history and sociology." Advisor: Maude Southwell Wahlman. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Feb. 6, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-247). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Dept. of Fine and Applied Arts, 2002. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 12, 2009) "PG/MFA/98/25302." Includes bibliographical references (p. [138]-143). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-96).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 70 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-70).

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Susan Richmond, committee chair; Nancy Floyd, Maria P. Gindhart, committee members. Electronic text (127 p. : iil. (mostly col.)) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 20, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-127).