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Mirroring the Self: Developing Representational Strategies for Lens Based Art

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Devi, Mandakini (2018) Mirroring the Self: Developing Representational Strategies for Lens Based Art. PhD thesis, University of Gloucestershire.

Video (Film exhibition)
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Mandakini Devi Thesis Showreel of works Part of the Thesis.mov - Draft Version
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Mandakini Devi Thesis - final thesis 2018- 3rd party content redacted.pdf - Accepted Version
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Abstract

Women artists are notable producers of self-portraits; almost all significant women painters have left an example of such work. They have historically embodied a number of roles within their self-portraiture. With the emergence of the photographic record many women artists have produced a significant body of self-images; unparalleled amongst the work of their male colleagues, that continues to resonate in the practice of contemporary women artists Self-referentiality as a thinking process investigates the experiences shaping the artist’s identity, which in return exerts an influence on the process of making of the art object. In terms of my own position as an artist born in India and educated both in India and in the UK I explore ideas of the self and of the transient self, where the ambiguity of moving between geographies is also the ambiguity of moving between versions of identity. Through a set of three primary questions this thesis attempts to question 1. What is the meaning of self-referential art in current terminology, with specific reference to women working with photography and film in the contemporary context? 2. How do contemporary women artists negotiate issues on gender and identity using the self as a starting point? 3. How can the embodiment of such issues in lens–based and digitally inflected media reflect a subjective, exploratory and expressive engagement with gender and identity politics? By comparing the practices of contemporary women artists from India and the West, through a set of video and digital collages, the idea is to demonstrate selfrepresentation as a signifier of cultural positions in different global and post-colonial contexts. Issues of gender, identity, feminism, sexuality, and cultural hybridity are foregrounded in the art works specially created as part of the inquiry. The research and the art works are generated from a personal record of images reflecting cultural signifiers of gender and identity across different cultures and art contexts of India and the West.

Item Type:

Thesis (PhD)

Thesis Advisors: