The gooey, the bloody, and just plain gross: exploring art and visual culture with an abject visual methodology

Livingston, Susan Briana

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/90506 Copy

Description

Title

The gooey, the bloody, and just plain gross: exploring art and visual culture with an abject visual methodology

Author(s)

Livingston, Susan Briana

Issue Date

2016-04-18

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Duncum, Paul A.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Duncum, Paul A.

Committee Member(s)

• Kaplan, Brett
• Hetrick, Laura
• Lucero, Jorge

Department of Study

Art & Design

Discipline

Art Education

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Abject
• Abjection
• Abject Art
• Art
• Visual Culture
• Psychoanalysis
• Julia Kristeva
• Disgust
• Judith Butler
• Art Education

Abstract

This doctoral study concerns itself with the diverse and abundant images of disgust in fine art and popular visual culture. My study is ground in a deep understanding of disgust and the psychoanalytic theory of the abject as developed by Julia Kristeva and modified by later scholars like Chanter and Butler. However, these scholars do not concern themselves specifically with the arena of the visual. To address this lack, I have developed an abject visual methodology. This abject visual methodology is predicated on other methodological works, like Sandoval's Methodology of the oppressed, and it is designed specifically to elucidate the intricate intersections of material, process, subject, narrative and viewership in application to art which disgusts. I use my abject visual methodology to create a taxonomy of abject art, which provides a broad survey of the types of disgusting or psychological uncomfortable images found in the art world. This taxonomy also allows for a demonstration of my abject visual methodology as a tool of inquiry and analysis. Finally, I argue for the relevance of both abject art and an abject visual methodology in art education, a discipline that in general avoids the controversial. Abject art can lead to a fruitful and generative revolt that allows not only for personal expression but the construction of deep empathetic connections and the ability to manage critical thinking.

Graduation Semester

2016-05

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90506

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016, Susan B. Livingston

Owning Collections