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Practical Theology / (M.Th Practical Theology))

Partial dissertation in compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Fine Art, Durban University of Technology, 2004. / This dissertation investigates how death as a subject matter in the work of contemporary artists living in European, American, and South African societies, relates to attitudes towards death in those societies. It examines how attitudes towards death have changed over the centuries, and how death is perceived in these societies today. It examines how the treatment of death in art today. differs from other periods because of these attitudes. Chapter One, Section One examines three major shifts in attitudes towards death In Western history, as outlined by Philippe Aries, a leading writer in the field. Chapter One, Section Two looks at death as a subject matter in Western art history, from ancient Greece to the mid-twentieth century. Categories discussed include funerary art, religious art, art and medicine, death personified, historical and analytical, personal, political art, and death and consumerism. Chapter Two, Section One examines attitudes towards death in contemporary Westernized societies, focusing on the medicalization of death, funeral rituals and disposal practices, and attitudes towards death in South Africa, specifically within the cultural framework of white, English-speaking South Africans. Chapter Two, Section Two examines death as a subject matter in the work of selected contemporary artists in America, Europe, and South Africa, and how it relates to attitudes towards death in those societies. Artists examined are Damien Hirst, Christian Boltanski, Joel-Peter Witkin, Andres Serrano, Donna Sharrett, Gerhard Richter, and Jo Ractliffe. The paper concludes by outlining the main arguments of the research and conclusions reached. / M

This thesis is concerned with nature as a source for much of the symbolism and imagery in the novels and short stories of John Steinbeck. The symbolism is examined from the perspective of the philosophy governing Steinbeck's artistic use of nature: that life is a unity and that man is one with nature.

In creating my work I use bold, bright colors and fundamental shapes and patterns. My images reflect how I view the world and genuinely express my imagination, feelings, and thinking. Working this way allows me to apply a symbolic face to personal concerns, beliefs, fears, ideologies, and philosophies. I see a world where life and art blend to create images of triumph and tragedy, joy and pain, or growth and change. My ideas have grown from the desire to understand myself as a woman, as a Christian, and as a unique individual. Dealing with personal questions, I explore the varying relationships between popular culture and self-perception. Another source for my work are philosophical themes, along with political and social commentary. I want my messages to not only touch the heart and soul of people but convey a message that they will remember.

My paintings contain both abstract and figurative elements that share an underlying theme: spiritual symbolism that conveys positive principles to live by. The symbolism that underscores my content carries over to my choice of palette; for example, red or yellow implies the vitality of life while purple stands for royalty.With my drawings, I concentrate on highly realistic graphite portraits of individuals I know. I present them in the environments in which they live to help highlight their unique personalities. With both painting and drawing, my goal is to illustrate spiritual philosophies on macro and micro levels respectively.

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Three seminal 19 th-century North American literary works feature bodies of water which serve both as key elements in their narrative structure and as symbolic entities within their meaning systems. The protagonists in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Edgar Allan Poe’s A Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick literally define themselves in terms of their relation to these bodies of water. The best way to determine the function of water in the texts is to analyze the initial relationship between water and the central character, the way that water serves as a reflection of the Self, and the way that its Otherness suggests the ultimate possibility of transformation.

Évoquer l'existence d'un imaginaire photographique pose un problème d'ordre idéologique quant au statut de la photographie. Pour tenter de démontrer l'existence de cet imaginaire, il faut se pencher sur un mouvement qui, en son temps, réfléchit à cette notion de manière fondamentale: le mouvement symboliste. Aussi est-il nécessaire de se demander en quoi le symbolisme est fondateur de l’imaginaire photographique ? A cette époque la photographie est largement intégrée dans un système positiviste, elle est la technique scientifique d’enregistrement par excellence, ayant pour trait caractéristique la mise hors circuit de la subjectivité de l’observateur. Le symbolisme, quant à lui, est à son apogée, autour des années 1880-90. Il va opposer au principe scientifique de classification, fondé sur la séparation et la différence, une conception philosophique tournée vers la recherche d’unité. Or les symbolistes, vont se servir de l’outil photographique. D’une part, ils réinvestissent d’un imaginaire et d’un esprit critique les photographies les plus scientifiques et « objectives » de l’époque. D’autre part certains deviennent eux-mêmes photographes et vont instituer la photographie comme une véritable expérience créatrice et poétique. Ces concepts demeurent plus ou moins vifs sur le long terme. Un ensemble de symboles et de démarches ont été réinvestis par la révolution surréaliste. Ceux-ci restent présents et fondateurs de la photographie contemporaine par leur réactualisation. Cette dernière ferait véritablement appel aux potentiels de l’imaginaire photographique déjà mis en place par le Symbolisme, remettant dès lors en question la manière impérialiste de voir et concevoir le réel. Le but de cette recherche, n’est pas d’affirmer que toute photographie est symboliste mais de déterminer quelle peut être aujourd’hui l’influence du symbolisme en photographie, à travers la mise en œuvre de concepts communs. Cette recherche se fonde sur une interrogation concernant l’imaginaire photographique. / To refer to the existence of a photographical imagination arises an ideological issue when bringing the status of photography into question. To try to demonstrate the existence of this imagination; consideration should be given to a movement fundamentally reflecting the notion of the symbolist movement. Therefore, would it be necessary to consider how symbolism is founder of the photographical imagination? At that time, photography widely fits into a positivist system, it is the best recording scientific technique. Hence, photography has emerged from the middle of the 19th century as a new type of objectivity whose main characteristic is the exclusion of the observer's subjectivity. As for Symbolism, it reached its peak around 80-90s. It will oppose a searching for unity philosophical conception with scientific classification principle, based on separation and difference. Despite that, Symbolists have chosen to use the photographical tool. On the one hand, they took into account the most scientific and objective photographs over that period in relation with imagination and critical acumen. On the other hand, some of them became themselves photographers and will even institute photography as a real creative and practical experience. However, these concepts remain more or less alive on the long run. A set of symbols and methods were taken into account by the surrealist revolution. Those remain present at the origin of the contemporary photography by their re-actualization. The contemporary photography would really require the photographical imagination potential that were already set up by Symbolism. Therefore, the imperialist way of feeling and imagining reality would be thrown back into question. The aim of this research is not to assert that photography is symbolist but to determine which influence of symbolism about photography may currently be through the use of common concepts. All in all, this research is based on questioning about the photographical imagination.