Beyond the Immeasurable

Abstract

My thesis, Beyond the Immeasurable, is a biographical exploration of my collective: my ex-husband and three children. My method is based in collecting. The outcomes of my research are works of art developed from material sourced, classified, and collected in my domestic environment.

Over the four years of research, I collected specimens, personal matter, empirical data, and found objects. It ranged from evidence of the body (hair, teeth, food scraps, and saliva), soundscapes from within the home (audio recordings of the collective during interactions), documented performances, and statistical/empirical data of interactions (dates, times, durations). My practice engaged with a number of themes and theories including collecting practices, interpersonal contamination, domestic space, feminist art and craft, and identity as well as contextualising my research amongst artists such as Sophie Calle, Annette Messager, and Louise Bourgeois. In the end, it became the evidence of our lives and experiences. As the project progressed, the research evolved to focus on defining who I was, my role within the collective, and, despite the collective’s demise, ultimately, the project was about love. The research outcomes encompass a collection of sculptural, photographic, performance and video pieces.

I found, in response to my aims, my practice-led research had become a narrative which gave me a sense of self, place, and belonging. These collections and the proceeding works resulted in a demonstration of a metaphorical fusion of identities, establishment of relationships within the collective, consolidation of different personas and facets of my life, and the development and redefinition my visual arts practice. The most surprising discovery, was the redefining of my role as a mother and the acceptance of this expressed through feminine craft with materials I collected from my own domestic space, my home.