Crossing the Cartography of Exile explores ideas of territoriality, hybrid identity and transculturation. The thesis and exhibition is the result of two years of Practice-Led Research, which is the performative research methodology, carried in the La Chapelle Woodshop of the 100 Laurier Avenue East Building of the Department of Visual Arts. The building was the former Juniorat du Sacré-Coeur of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate built in 1893-94. The Woodshop is the former chapel of the seminary therefore has references to a place of prayer and worship and for my praxis became a place to re-enact the ancient trade of Joseph the Carpenter. The La Chapelle Shipyard inside the woodshop as mnemonic site became a performative site-specific platform specialized in creating small-scale sculptures with recycled and repourposed shipping pallets and a place in which to connect memory with the ancient trade of a shipwright or shipbuilder. Small-scale sculpture then became a symbolic marker for the intimacy of a personal and free territory made of repurposed shipping pallets. Therefore, by working with recycled changeable materials I fashioned a poetic visual language to enchant the wound of exile.

The increasing prevalence of digital fabrication technologies and the emergence of a novel materiality in contemporary craft practice have created the need to redefine the critical context of digital jewellery and wearable futures. Previous research in this area, such as that presented by Sarah Kettley (2007a) and Jayne Wallace (2007), has provided the foundations for further enquiry but has not been advanced significantly since its inception. The artistic research presented in this thesis focuses on how smart materials and microelectronic components could be used to create synergetic digital jewellery objects and wearable futures that reflect changes in the body of their wearer and their environment through dynamic responses. Laying the foundations for a theory of <i>Interactive</i> <i>Craft</i> through evaluating different aspects of creative practice that relate to responsive objects with a close relationship to the human body is at the centre of this enquiry. Through identifying four distinct categories of wearable object, the <i>Taxonomy of the Wearable Object</i> is formulated and clearly delineates the current existing conceptual, technological and material perspectives that govern the relationships between different types of wearable objects. A particular focus is placed on exploring the concept of <i>Digital Enchantment</i> and how it could be utilised to progress towards developing the <i>Uncanny Object</i> that appears to possess biological characteristics and apparent agency, yet is a fully artificial construct. The potential for the practical application of a design methodology guided by playful engagement with novel materials, microelectronics and digital fabrication technologies is analysed, taking into account Ingold’s concept of the <i>textility of making </i>(Ingold, 2011). Through exploring the notion of the <i>Polymorphic</i> <i>Practitioner</i> in the context of <i>Alchemical Practice</i>, a model for experiential knowledge generation through engaging in cross-disciplinary collaboration is developed. This is supported by a qualitative survey of European materials libraries, including accounts of site visits that evaluate the usefulness of materials libraries for creative practitioners invested in novel materiality as well as visually documenting a selection of the visited libraries’ most intriguing material holdings. Utilising a scientific testing protocol, a practical body of work that centres on conducting extensive experiments with smart materials is developed, with a particular focus on testing the compatibility and colour outcomes of chromic pigments in silicone. The resulting chromic silicone samples are collated, together with sourced smart materials, in a customised materials library. Investigational prototypes and the <i>Microjewels</i> collection of digital jewellery and wearable futures that responds to external and bodily stimuli whilst engaging the wearer through playful interaction are presented as another outcome of this body of research.

In this exegesis I have attempted to formulate a primary toolset for dramatic writing that I can apply to create dramatic structure in plays, the chief example being my play Albatross (included herein). This toolset is contingent upon Aristotle's basic tenet of drama, that "tragedy is an imitation of an action" (2002: 10). This exegesis theorises that the work of modern writers on drama such as Spencer, Packard, Catron, Lamott, See, Hicks and many others, fundamentally accords with Aristotle on this point, such that the tools they espouse can collectively be considered a standard set for dramatic writing. Beyond this, my research has led me to believe that there is a primary subset of tools specific to creating dramatic structure. These tools, formulated from dramatic theory, best capture my own way of thinking about my writing practice. I divide them into two types: the first, tools of creation, comprise Theme and Values; Character and their Values; Characters and Action; Character Orchestration and Obstacles; and Event and Significant Change. The second, tools of evaluation, are Passivity; Stakes; and Premise. Together these eight tools have been responsible for creating dramatic structure in the play, Albatross.

M. Tech. (Department of Visual Arts and Design: Fine Art, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / This study explores two artistic methods of enquiry in order to firstly better understand the lived experience and its contributions on the formation of sexuality and secondly, to explore how a method can dissect and interrogate a theoretical discourse such as Queer theory. The project takes a twofold approach. In the Practice-led Research (PLR) section, which constitutes the first part, I attempt to utilize PLR as a means of exploring the lived experience along with the artistic contributions PLR might have on the ideation process and identity construction I made use of journal writings as a means for data generation and artistic exploration. The second part of this study, utilizing Research-led Practice (RLP), I attempt to dissect and interrogate Queer theory and the ideation process involved with RLP. I analyse Queer theory as a starting point for my artistic productions and explore and compared the two approaches to one another with regards to the ideation process and the construction of the self. The main aim of this study was to use the strategies of PLR and RLP to interrogate the process of ideation generation. The study set out to achieve three objectives. Firstly, it compares and contrasts the research methods suggested by PLR and RLP, as both operate from different points of ideation. Secondly it compares and contrasts the type of insights (philosophical ideations) around homosexuality and Queer theory that arose from using the two different methods. Lastly it tentatively/speculatively assesses which of the two approaches worked for me both as an artist (the making/ideation process) and as a gay man (the personal philosophical ideation process). In chapter one I discuss the background to the study and where it is situated within academia. In chapter two I discuss the two methodologies namely PLR and RLP and how I made use of them in the artmaking process. In chapter three I discuss the findings of working with PLR. In chapter four I engage with the theoretical discourse of Queer theory. In chapter five I discuss RLP and how Queer theory influenced the artmaking process. In chapter six I conclude with the findings. This study allowed me to channel my lived experience as a valid method of inquiry along with PLR. I discovered that a gay identity is based on personal experiences and shaped by the body. My second body of work (RLP) allowed me to investigate and interrogate Queer theory and I found that a Queer identity sits within a continuum. Working with these two methodological approaches allowed me to expand and grow as both an artist and gay man. Tentatively I conclude that PLR worked effectively for me to achieve this growth, whereas the RLP approach I found somewhat confining. Yet, the RLP approach ‘forced’ me to reconsider my preconceptions and the conclusions I had reached using the PLR approach.

No description available.

The evaluation of creative participatory community projects remains a controversial issue in politics, policy and the arts, its focus sharpened by the reality or rhetoric of austerity. Despite the recent plethora of policy documents and reviews there is little consensus about how projects should be evaluated or what constitutes good evidence about the impact on individual and collective wellbeing of ‘being creative’. This research set out to develop and trial feasible and effective evaluations for small to medium sized projects in the West Midlands of the UK based on field research into how impact is produced. Through mainly qualitative research in diverse contexts it was able to identify a range of conditions in projects reflecting the interrelationship of creativity and participation in which positive impact could be maximised. The research sought to theorise the impact of these conditions using elements of Actor Network Theory and Freire’s concept of praxis, concluding that impact is likely to be incremental, partial and non-linear. Central to this theorisation was the synthesis of evidence about the impact of creativity and embodied making on thinking, affect and a sense of agency, with ideas about how people change, producing a new evidence-based theory of change. In a practice-led approach, new creative methods were trialled in which data produced by participants had aesthetic as well as communicative value and the evaluation process itself contributed to positive impact. While it was possible to evaluate aspects of this impact through episodic interventions, field trials showed that it was more effective to develop a systemic evaluation strategy. Such a strategy needed to be participatory and integrated into project planning, in order to respond to the stochastic systems creativity inevitably provokes. This proved to offer two advantages: the potential to engage many stakeholders, not just as respondents but also as agents actively defining and measuring evaluation outcomes; and the potential for reflection about impact as process rather than outcome. These findings were then implemented in a number of projects, including trials of the Arts Council UK’s developmental Children and Young People’s Quality Principles. The method has been identified as ‘improving the conversation’ amongst partners, stakeholders and artists who can re-position themselves as active agents of evaluation rather than mere respondents, using the tropes, practices and materials of their own professional practices.

Multidimensional aesthetics in photomedia practice shift the emphasis away from the culturally dominating singularity of the camera's eye-piece towards a supple interplay of semi-transparent image planes and shifting positions. Using various image-capture devices that can produce digital, film, still or moving pictures, I create bodies of work that invite the viewer to see many perspectives simultaneously. The challenge is to implement the effectiveness of the technologies and simultaneously dislodge those principles and values fundamental to their imperialist cultural backgrounds. My practice investigates a diplomatic negotiability of aesthetic language to accommodate conceptual and cultural difference/s. Located on the print surface or in animated sequences are symbolic representations that disclose histories, cultures, times and places in subtle and ambiguous ways. The interplay of allure and resistance, repetition and change, are strategies that reveal the delicate and paradoxical nature of the multidimensional psyche.

This thesis consists of a novel, eighteenth, and an exegesis, The ‘Lad Lit’ Dilemma: Institutional influences on creative writing practice. It will address my research question; how did institutional factors surrounding the publishing category of Lad Lit influence my creative practice in drafting and re-drafting the novel eighteenth? eighteenth is the story of Will Swift, a seventeen year-old Brisbane university student. Will is part of a close group of friends from high school. When he falls for Kate, family friend of his mate Simon, his first semester of study becomes more complicated than he might have expected. Will’s movement through these issues and character development is represented symbolically through four eighteenth birthday parties. The project’s exegesis then analyses the changing nature of the publishing industry in the last twenty years, and the implications of these changes for creative writers. Together, the two elements of this practice-led research will articulate the shift in the balance between the cultural and commercial imperatives of publishers, explain the impact of this shift for the publishing category of Lad Lit, and explore the ramifications of this for creative writing practitioners.

M. Tech. (Department of Visual Arts and Design: Graphic Design, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / The main aim of this study is to determine in what ways my graphic design practice is impacted by my socio-cultural identity. The intention is to explain and theorise the creative dynamics at play in Graphic Design as a discipline, so that I can use this to trace how the culture of graphic design, learned through training, influences the designs that I conceptualise and produce. From this exploration, critical self-analysis strategies and lines of inquiry for graphic designers, are established. To achieve this, triangulated investigations are undertaken in the context of a graphic designer as an idiosyncratic enculturated person, within the domain and field of graphic design. The attention falls on the dynamics of creativity and the cultivation thereof within cultural subject formation processes. Triangulated explorations of identity formation and identity within a culture in itself are undertaken, along with investigations into the culture of graphic design. Autoethnography (AE) is employed as practice-led research methodology and tool to extract data from autobiographic investigations that can be used to analyse and interpret the creative outcomes that were produced for the study. The cultural elements and principles of graphic design and the cultural elements and principles of an idiosyncratic enculturated graphic designer are compared, that result in answers to the main objective of the research conducted. Background and motivations introduce interpretation and contextualisation (personalisation) of AE as practice-led research methodology and method within graphic design as a cultural practice. The introduction is followed by creative practice that involves the generation of graphic design creative outcomes and the writing of a condensed autobiography. An in-depth literature review then provides a theoretical framework that sketches the discipline of practitioner within a field of practice, where after the practice is analysed, critically reflected upon and then AE interpreted, using the developed theoretical framework. From this, a detailed self-analysis follows. The process leads to the development of a new knowledge base and model (framework) that can be used in further research possibilities across other disciplines and cultural identity selections for self-reflection. This “strategic cultural preference facilitator model” consists of seven macro self-analytical identity markers, drawing on Appiah’s (2018) categories of Country, Creed, Colour, Gender, Class, and Culture (to which is added Professional Development). This is extended into ten micro sub-selfanalytical identity markers, namely: (1) Patriotism; (2) Paternalism; (3) Patriarchy and (4) Power; (5) the Pastoral; (6) Pretence; (7) Protection; (8) Punishment; (9) Privilege; and (10) Process, which are employed as socio-cultural identity lines of inquiry. The modelling and analysis processes documented in the dissertation could be extremely useful in most fields of human interaction, such as social work, psychology training, communication theory and practice, and in virtually all domains where the notion of self-critique as practice is prevalent (and necessary).

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology : Fine Arts, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / The motivation for this research results from the notion that art-making is a regenerative enriching process that can counteract the sense of dislocation that one suffers as a consequence of depression. The study has two objectives: to open a discourse around the transformative function of art for a person suffering depression; and challenge notions of dominant constructed ideals of normality by presenting alternative realities of the performative mind. From the earliest memories of my life, I knew I did not fit in, I was not part of the crowd. Depression has been my companion ever since I can remember. The intention for this self-study is to interrogate the ways in which art can become a self-actualising process in coping with depression. The content for this research deals with narratives of the mind, that is, my understanding of who I am. I have therefore, positioned myself as the pivot for this research, drawing on authentic personal experiential knowledge. This autobiographical phenomenological study is thus a self-reflexive exploration addressing concepts of difference and belonging in relation to social constructs of acceptability. The study looks at contemporary concepts of multiple selves, relationality and the application of therapeutic methodologies within art practice. Art-making becomes games of truth, mind games that offer alternative realities and possibilities for the construction of complex, multi-faceted narratives as dialogues between the self and the inner critic. Of importance is the concept that self is not a fixed conclusive notion but one that continues to unfold, shift and become a multi-layered construct. These new narratives examine how creativity enables or creates a sense of belonging or re-positioning of one’s states of mind. The overall intention of the art-making process is its potential for transformative self-recovery processes – the re-construction of who we are, rather than how we are perceived. This research thus examines the notion of belonging in this world through body/land enactments of ritualised behaviour. The body as metaphor investigates rites of passage as the re-tellings of one’s story within specific body/site/space relationships. The ideal of connection to site is central as a means of renewal and recovery – these performative relationships become the creative meaning-making processes of locating or positionality. In support of these ideas and concepts, the work of Ana Mendieta, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Suzanne Lacy are considered in relation to ideals of positionality and as reflecting each artist’s ethics or paradigms of equality. Artworks are examined against the notion of locating oneself within social contexts. The aim is to question the intention and outcomes of art-making as social function in dealing with issues of marginalisation and stigma. Performativity, personal writings/reflections and memory drawings are the quintessential tools of my art-making. The written psychological renderings and unravellings of my mind, questionings that are both reflexive and critical, are intentionally presented in dialogical, conversational and direct modes. This personal tone aims to allow a scope into my mind – it is my perspective from the inside, my voice, my personal understanding of the potential of art as a metaphorical process of transformation. Lacy asserts that the artist becomes a witness, reporter and analyst for socio-culturally biased concerns; a performance gives public articulation and permission to speak out loud, gives voice to internal dialogues, reveal information that requires questioning and that personal individual experience has profound social implications. Lacy believes that it is an innate human need to reflect on the meaning of one’s life and one’s work (2010:176-177). Central to the findings of this study, are both the transgressive and transformative functions of art. / M