The Space Between: Animal and Human
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USyd Access
Type
ThesisThesis type
Masters by ResearchAuthor/s
Hicks, PetrinaAbstract
For the past 10 years my photographic art practice has engaged animals as metaphors to explore human identity. Through writing this paper I seek to answer; why do I look to the animal to know myself? It is the boundaries that separate animal from human, and the illusory space between ...
See moreFor the past 10 years my photographic art practice has engaged animals as metaphors to explore human identity. Through writing this paper I seek to answer; why do I look to the animal to know myself? It is the boundaries that separate animal from human, and the illusory space between these boundaries that fascinate me, where does the animal body end and the human body begin, what lies between? Claude Levy Strauss famously said ‘animals are good to think’1 , it’s as if thinking through animals seems to transform us. Since the origin of civilization and across all cultures humans have always imagined themselves through ‘animal others’, the animal representing that which humans perceive as unfathomable and limitless. Why should it be that the animal, frequently conceived as the archetypal ‘other’, plays such a potent and vital role in the symbolic construction of human identity? 2 It seems that metaphors of animals help us make sense of our interior worlds, the struggle to understand or complete the animal is inherently “a struggle to understand the nature of being human itself.” 3 Ultimately it’s how the artist engages with ideas relating to animal and human boundaries and the metaphorical space between these states that interests me. It’s also the artist who is best equipped to traverse these forever shifting and often illusory boundaries and the abyss found between. I’m interested in exploring the porosity of these boundaries between animal and human, and what results when these boundary states are collapsed or dissolved. This quote by Robert Hughes comes to mind ‘The basic project of art is…....to close the gap between you and everything that is not you.’4 Through writing this paper and researching the various theories surrounding animal-human boundaries, I find myself in a more informed position to explore the interstitial space between animal and human in my work, and to understand how animal-human dichotomies within my interior world are projected outward through my art practice.
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See moreFor the past 10 years my photographic art practice has engaged animals as metaphors to explore human identity. Through writing this paper I seek to answer; why do I look to the animal to know myself? It is the boundaries that separate animal from human, and the illusory space between these boundaries that fascinate me, where does the animal body end and the human body begin, what lies between? Claude Levy Strauss famously said ‘animals are good to think’1 , it’s as if thinking through animals seems to transform us. Since the origin of civilization and across all cultures humans have always imagined themselves through ‘animal others’, the animal representing that which humans perceive as unfathomable and limitless. Why should it be that the animal, frequently conceived as the archetypal ‘other’, plays such a potent and vital role in the symbolic construction of human identity? 2 It seems that metaphors of animals help us make sense of our interior worlds, the struggle to understand or complete the animal is inherently “a struggle to understand the nature of being human itself.” 3 Ultimately it’s how the artist engages with ideas relating to animal and human boundaries and the metaphorical space between these states that interests me. It’s also the artist who is best equipped to traverse these forever shifting and often illusory boundaries and the abyss found between. I’m interested in exploring the porosity of these boundaries between animal and human, and what results when these boundary states are collapsed or dissolved. This quote by Robert Hughes comes to mind ‘The basic project of art is…....to close the gap between you and everything that is not you.’4 Through writing this paper and researching the various theories surrounding animal-human boundaries, I find myself in a more informed position to explore the interstitial space between animal and human in my work, and to understand how animal-human dichotomies within my interior world are projected outward through my art practice.
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Date
2016-12-14Licence
The author retains copyright of this thesis. It may only be used for the purposes of research and study. It must not be used for any other purposes and may not be transmitted or shared with others without prior permission.Faculty/School
Sydney College of the ArtsAwarding institution
The University of SydneyShare