Reflecting on the amount of research I completed in the second year, I have decided to continue with the theme I have started and prepare my Research Project on the theme of Global Diasporas. My Research Project Proposal is outlined on this page.
Using this form produce an account of your intended area of research.
| Student Name | Michelle Wright | Module Code | ARF 601 | |
| Chosen
outcome |
5000
Word Dissertation |
The imaginary museum illustrated catalogue + essay / website + essay | 1 hour presentation + research folder | 2500 word essay + 30 minute presentation + research folder |
Working Title
Diasporas, Loss and Globalization
How does – do you see this relating to you studio practice (not less than 100 words)
An ethnography of diasporas, loss and globalization discussing how Post Mondernist Artists across the globe seek to heal and transform spiritual wounds within a diasporic community using artistic expression to remember.
As a theme continuing from my second year practice, I hope to explore the effects of migration on a global basis, providing a deeper understanding of social issues and how they not only affect the local community but the global community.
Having previously focussed on the experience of living in a refugee camp, I hope to focus on the emotional and psycholigical issues that arise through loss, either the loss of a culture or a home, a community, self esteem, human rights and how the worldly issues of globalization not only affect diasporic communities but also the individuals included in those communities.
Having reflected on these issues and why they are so important to me, I have come to the conclusion that I feel an affinity for people in these diasporic communities because of my separation from Scotland, my spiritual homeland.
I intend to use processes of print, sculpture and video installations to communicate these issues.
Outline of Proposed Research Project Content
(Minimum 500 words approx.)
The purpose of this Research Project is to bring together a selection of Decoupled Diaspora Artists that represent their homeland through their artwork. Demonstrating their artistic endeavours to heal wounds and highlight issues affecting diasporic communities. Attempting to show that the emotional and psychological effects of separation are as much about humanity as culture.
For as long as we know people have migrated either through persecution, war or other reasons that effect the population as a whole. However, migratory routes are in a constant state of flux and movement with borders and boundaries continually changing.
Creating an imaginary Ethnographic Museum, an exhibition that brings together the work of Diasporic artists from different cultures. These artists use their artistic process to represent their Diasporic Communities. They address the negative representation of these people by the media, providing an alternative, positive viewpoint.
John Akomfrah is a Ghanian Filmmaker who resides in the UK. Inspired by the pessimism in the media, he continues to make work as a positive representation of the African Diaspora. He recently produced a video installation inspired by a 17th Century Sephardic community of Jewish Refugees. This video installation address issues of migration and religious persecution over a period of five centuries.
Emily Jacir is a Palestinian American Filmmaker who lives away from her Homeland, Palestine. Born in Bethlehem in 1972 she divides her time between Rome, Italy and Ramallah. Holding an American passport, she is able to move freely around Palestine and was determined to use this advantage to “realize the desires of those forbidden to enter her homeland.”
El Anatsui, a Ghanian living in Nigeria is a sculptor who creates beautiful fluid cloths from metals and discarded materials. Mostly concerned with his artistic process and experimentation, his work does not deliberately make reference to Diaspora and Economics. However, his artwork has a subconscious influence that alludes to his heritage and economics of history and the present day.
Mona Hatoum, a Palestinian Video and Installation artist who lives in London. Her work is very personal to her. However, because of her unsettled personal history and sense of rootlessness, parallels are easily drawn with the politics and otherness and collective memory of the Diaspora. She produces Cartographic works that suggests political influence over the mass population.
Simply by being human, it is not difficult to imagine ourselves persecuted and displaced from our homes, countries and families as these diasporic communities often are. It could so easily be us in that situation, with no sense of security from one day to the next.
Artists that present work about Diaspora are often a member of the community they are representing. Therefore, the art may become auto-biographical in nature.
This exhibition will be a biographical body of work that disproves the negative portrayal of the Diasporic population in the media.
That positive representation can be presented in artwork as a contrast to the negative characterization in the media. The presentation of such artwork in an exhibition can in fact become a catalyst for healing and transforming these broken communities.
She's a Fine Artist 