Considered under the theme 'The Floating World', the aim of this research project was to create a written exegesis and a series of artworks, primarily in the form of digital animation and illustration, which investigate decorative and illustrative art practices and their historical lineages. Particular emphasis was given to investigating the links between contemporary decorative/illustrative art practice and the aesthetics and psychology of the Edo period in Japan (C17th - C19th), in which the term 'The Floating World' was used to describe the city of Edo (old Tokyo). The writing concerned with The Floating World is comprised of the following chapters: history; concepts; aesthetics; contemporary adaptations of Ukiyo-e; and gothic romance and associated genres. The outcomes of my Masters program represent a sustained exploration of decorative and illustrative art practice and theory, and incorporate experimentation with associated genres such as magic realism, gothic romance, the uncanny, iconography, surrealism and other metaphorical and abstract representational practices. More broadly, my Masters project is an investigation, both theoretical and practical, into the way drawing and illustration have been a process through which to (literally) give shape to hopes and fears, and to describe understandings of self and the world. I am particularly interested in exploring how, through the act of abstraction and the use of metaphor and decoration, a capacity to 'speak the unspeakable' and 'know the unknowable' are somehow enabled. For example, when contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami decorates Edo-inspired screens with a colourful arrangement of morphing cartoon mushrooms, he conjures up a startling and complex poetic space that juxtaposes traditional Japanese aesthetics and philosophy with the hyper-consumerist characters and ethos of Disneyland, as well as disquieting references to the mushroom bombs that dropped down on Hiroshima and Nagasaki from US planes. A similarly complex space is enacted by contemporary US artist Inka Essenhigh: her oversized canvases seem like sublime Japanese-inspired screens but a closer inspection reveals that the decorative motifs are actually dismembered body parts morphed together to create a savage and compelling metaphor for contemporary America that is all the more disarming for being perf ormed in a seemingly innocuous illustrative style. My research will draw on these examples but will endeavour to create a series of artworks that are particular to an Australian context. This interests me particularly in a time when, as a nation, we appear to be confounded about what it means to be Australian: as a contemporary artist I am interested in how we represent ourselves as a nation, and in exploring the motifs and attributes that we consider to be ours.

Au lendemain du séisme et du tsunami qui ont frappé le Japon le 11 mars 2011, la situation catastrophique qui s’est déroulée à la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi a amené son lot de confusions, de peurs et d’angoisses. Face à une gestion gouvernementale du désastre hésitante et à une couverture médiatique peu appropriée à l’échelle de l’évènement nucléaire – une catastrophe dont les effets sont invisibles et s’étendent dans le temps – la création artistique japonaise s’est mobilisée. Hantés par ces évènements traumatiques et par une radiophobie ambiante, les artistes se sont autant questionnés sur le devoir de l’art en temps d’indicible désastre que sur sa possibilité et sa figurabilité. Consacrée à la mise en visibilité de la radioactivité, cette thèse met en lumière l’émergence d’une nouvelle impulsion artistique souhaitant composer avec la catastrophe nucléaire et compléter son iconographie, que nous nommons l’ « art post-Fukushima ». Nous nous intéressons au travail photographique de trois artistes japonais, Arai Takashi, Kagaya Masamichi et Takeda Shimpei, qui utilisent des techniques photographiques analogiques – daguerréotype, autoradiographie et radiogramme – visant à documenter et à exposer la trace de l’irradiation. Le sujet est ainsi approché sous l’angle des (in)visibilités de l’évènement nucléaire, de ses médiations et de ses expositions : exposition du support photosensible à la lumière (qu’elle soit naturelle ou radioactive) et à l’évènement nucléaire, exposition au sens plus large de promotion et de diffusion au Japon et en Occident, puis exposition du spectateur à ce type de photographie. À la veille du dixième anniversaire de la triple catastrophe, cette thèse de doctorat se destine à rendre visibles les enjeux de l’art post-Fukushima et à participer, à son tour, à replacer « Fukushima » et la contamination radioactive au centre de l’attention collective et à réactualiser sa mémoire. / On the 11th March 2011 an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan triggering a catastrophic chain of events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that seeded fear and confusion in the population. In the face of the government’s hesitant handling of the crisis and of inadequate media coverage regarding the scale of the disaster, Japanese artists mobilized to create their own responses relating to the ongoing and invisible effects of the calamity. In the shadow of the catastrophe, haunted by traumatic events and by an encompassing radiophobia, these artists have come to question the limits of figurability and also to ask what art is capable of and what its role can be. This thesis examines the emergence of “post-Fukushima art,” a term coined to describe a new, more politicized impulse in Japanese art, one that strives to provide an iconography adequate to the nuclear disaster and to render radiation visible. The thesis explores the photographic works of three artists in particular, Arai Takashi, Kagaya Masamichi and Takeda Shimpei. The trio employ analogue photographic techniques – daguerreotype, autoradiography and radiography – as a means to document and expose traces of irradiation. Their art is viewed through the prism of varied (in)visibilities linked to the nuclear catastrophe and addresses issues such as mediation and exposure. Exposure is understood in multiple senses, including exposure of a photosensitive support to light (such as radioluminescence), exposure to radioactive material generated by the disaster and, drawing on the French term exposé, exposure in the sense of exhibition. Exhibitions involve exposing viewers to photographs that relate to the catastrophe. On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the triple disaster, the thesis outlines the continuing stakes involved in post-Fukushima art as an effort to remember the event. It contributes to broader efforts aimed at refocussing attention on the aftermath of the disaster, including the radioactive contamination it caused.