Art, place, death: the transformative power of dynamic thresholds
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Date
2021-07
Authors
Von Maltitz, Adelheid Camilla
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Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
In this study I endeavour to analyse my position as an artist from the point of view of the
fields of art history and image studies, as well as across other fields, including mourning
and funerary practices. In so doing, I discover that in a variety of historical and cultural ways for many centuries, the psychic or imaginary edge or threshold between life and death has been challenged, bridged and moved across. This is of particular significance for my art and therefore I investigate how site, materiality and ritual | which span across works of art and funerary and mourning practices-may contribute to possibilities of healing or constructive engagement with death and loss. An analysis of the movement of the body, carrying objects and materials across the thresholds of significant places like cemeteries or art galleries, reveals that transferral may lead to the formation and translation of individualised transient inner images in the body. An exploration of materiality shows that material objects and their edge qualities" may be exploited in certain contexts-such as when engaging with death and loss-to challenge imaginary or psychic thresholds and thus enable healing. The interplay between the field of funerary practices and art-making processes clarifies the way in which ritual and ritualised processes comparably mediate the contradictory experience of the degeneration of the corpse and the need to embody continuity and thus enable healing. Based on, and expanding upon this research, I am able to envision and conceptualise future installation and land art projects.
Description
Keywords
Thesis (Ph.D. (Fine Arts))--University of the Free State, 2021, Roadside shrine, Site, Materiality, Ritual, Site-specific art, Death and loss, Thresholds, Edge