This thesis tracks the melodramatic imagination of Tracey Moffatt's art. Whereas many of Moffatt's photographic and filmic works employ conventions of melodrama, the critical literature on her art has barely engaged with this important aspect of her practice. The thesis redresses this gap. I argue that a particular understanding of melodrama that constructs inauthe.ntic and indeterminate realities crucially shapes Moffatt's art. Building on seminal works from literature and film studies, as well as psychoanalysis I develop a framework for the detailed examination of melodrama in Moffatt's art, and identify major themes, stylistic elements and fonnal conventions of melodrama that penneate her practice. The thesis designates and investigates three major concepts associated with melodrama as applicable to Moffatt's practice. First, I propose that her art is linked to a particular melodramatic aesthetic, the aesthetic of muteness as defined by Peter Brooks. This aesthetic uses non-verbal means of expression, such as gestures, the tableau and mise-en-scene to convey emotional and narrative meaning. It also emphasises the shortcomings of verbal language in expressing inner states of being of the modem 'Western' subject. Analyses of Moffatt's photo series Something More and her film Night Cries. A Rural Tragedy demonstrate that the aesthetic of muteness not only serves to express unspeakable traumatic experiences of characters but is also linked to the artist's aim to cross media boundaries. Second, the thesis examines Moffatt's Scarred for Life series in relation to melodrama's exposure of issues of violence and oppression in the family. I will propose that the return of the repressed and the revelation of hidden forces in melodrama may be related to Sigmund Freud's concept of the uncanny. Focussing on Scarred for Life I will examine ways in which artworks may evoke uncanny feelings in viewers. The third key thematic investigated in the thesis is elaborated in Chapter Five, which examines a consistent ambiguity found in Moffatt's art and links it to the moral impetus of melodrama. Building on writings by psychoanalytic theorist Joan Copjec I argue that - unlike early theatrical and literary melodrama, which divides the world into clear-cut binaries of good and evil - Moffatt's melodramas construct a moral ambiguity that questions unequivocal moral' judgment~. With the example of Moffatt's photographic series Laudanum I show that this moral ambiguity challenges viewers to make their own judgments instead of automatically relying on pre-given moral and political premises. By analysing the crucial part that melodrama plays in Moffatt's practice, this thesis not only develops a new way of interpreting the work of this important Australian artist, but also presents an understanding of melodrama as an aesthetic and a way of seeing the world that may be applied to other fonns of contemporary visual art.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258598 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Daur, Uta, Art History & Art Education, College of Fine Arts, UNSW |
| Publisher | Publisher:University of New South Wales. Art History & Art Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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