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Portraying Unease : the Art and Politics of Uncomfortable Attachments

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Author

Summary, in English

Portraying Unease critically discusses a tendency amongst politicized scholars to endow artworks with traits of subversion and political productivity. Artworks that address structural discrimination, such as heterosexism, racism, or ableism, are often described as possessing qualities that can challenge unjust systems or initiate political change. This thesis considers hope and belief in the political utility of visual art in terms of an emotional attachment: an anticipatory emotional bond to a set of promises concerning art’s abilities. It follows the work of five artists: Laura Aguilar (US), T.J. Dedeaux-Norris (US), Sands Murray-Wassink (NE), Jenny Grönvall (SE), and Xandra Ibarra (US), for whom the act of attributing hopes of social or political change to art is portrayed as a source of depression, insecurity, self-doubt, embarrassment, and a sense of being stuck. When one turns to art in search of its potential political efficacy one risks, the author argues, using a framework wherein representations of specific kinds of weaknesses, failures, or institutional attachments become associated with scholarly discomfort or embarrassment.

Department/s

Publishing year

2022

Language

English

Document type

Dissertation

Publisher

Makadam förlag

Topic

  • Art History

Keywords

  • emotional responses
  • contemporary art
  • performance art
  • affect theory
  • feminist theory
  • queer feminist theory
  • visual methodology
  • embarrassment
  • attachment
  • hope
  • subversion
  • repair
  • self-doubt
  • institutional attachment
  • institutional promises

Status

Published

Research group

  • The Cultural Studies Group of Neuroscience

Supervisor

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 978-91-7061-891-8
  • ISBN: 978-91-7061-391-3

Defence date

27 May 2022

Defence time

13:00

Defence place

LUX C121

Opponent

  • Mathias Danbolt (professor)