Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Program
Visual Arts
Supervisor
Daniela Sneppova
Abstract
This thesis attempts to explore the many socio-political, temporal and spatial factors that contribute to the formation of cultural identity. Through my video work, SuperNova, I examine how race is performed and the discursive structures that contribute to the process of racialization. The core question that is central to this thesis is how race is performed and the potential benefits and drawbacks of this performance. In chapter one, I explore how whiteness is performed and how racial hierarchies are maintained through performance. I critique the Aryan race discourse that is a part pf Iranian nationalist discourse of identity. In chapter two, I examine ethnic performances in the western art market and cultural institutions. I review several art stars and memoir writers from the near east that employ neo-orientalist aesthetics to appeal to the western voyeur. In chapter three, I introduce the possibility of new spatial dimensions and perspectives that become available to the hybrid subject. I introduce my concept my limbo logic and the emancipatory potential of this strategy. Additionally, I explore the possibilities of a futuristic narrative through alien subjectivity and I aim to contribute to ethno-futuristic discourses, scholarship and cultural production.
Recommended Citation
Saneie, Raheleh, "SuperNova: Performing Race, Hybridity and Expanding the Geographical Imagination" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5401.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5401