Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Program
Visual Arts
Supervisor
Kelly Jazvac
Abstract
This integrated article thesis includes three components: an extended artist’s statement, documentation of my artwork, and an interview with artist Aganetha Dyck. Through these three formats, this document explores the ways in which art can break down human vs. nonhuman binaries, thereby highlighting the agency of nonhuman materials. Theorist Jane Bennett proposes that seeing all matter as being ‘vibrant’ would shift our relationship with non-human materials whereby creating more sustainable practices. Vibrant matter would ask us to consider more deeply the origins, propensities and disposability of all material bodies. I seek to have a sustainable practice and work collaboratively with the tendencies and capacities of these materials. This practice involves an investigation of materials from seed to product, using my own body as a means of production. I seek to highlight the continuous state of change in materials and the permeable border between human and nonhuman matter which helps break the anthropocentric view.
Recommended Citation
de Montreuil, Lynette M., "From Dust to Dust" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2807.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2807