14/4/2025- PREPARATION
ideas for thesis!
Idea Seeds for MY Thesis
1. Interculturality as Embodied Knowledge: The Role of the Diasporic Artist
- Core question: How do diasporic artists negotiate cultural identity through embodied, visual, and intuitive practices?
- Why this might work: im from Cyprus, living in the UK, and my work often channels memory, community, femininity, and cultural codes. i could frame mybpainting and drawing practice as a kind of embodied “auto-theory” or cultural narration.
- Theory sources: Gloria Anzaldúa, Paul Gilroy, Homi Bhabha, Sara Ahmed, bell hooks, Nikos Papastergiadis.
2. Drawing as a Cross-Cultural Gesture: Navigating the Space Between
- Core question: Can drawing be a method of intercultural dialogue or a space of cultural negotiation in itself?
- Why this might work: my work values gesture, form, expression—what if drawing was not just a medium but a language between cultures?
- Theory sources: Tim Ingold (on lines/drawing), Claire Bishop (on participatory/relational art), cultural semiotics, maybe even Deleuze & Guattari on territorialization.
3. Intercultural Intimacy and the Female Gaze
- Core question: What does interculturality look like through an intimate, feminine, community-based gaze?
- Why this might work: i often explore female relationships, care, and community—what if i examined how those experiences shift across cultural contexts, through theory?
- Theory sources: Bracha Ettinger (matrixial gaze), Audre Lorde, Luce Irigaray, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Griselda Pollock, Saidiya Hartman.
4. Memory, Myth, and the Artist as Cultural Translator
- Core question: How does the artist act as a translator between cultural memory, personal memory, and collective myth?
- Why this might work: i’ve referenced Cypriot culture, storytelling, and ancestral/familial themes. i could explore the artist as someone who translates between “worlds” through visual language.
- Theory sources: Walter Benjamin (storytelling), Roland Barthes (mythologies), Edward Said (cultural translation), Aby Warburg (Mnemosyne Atlas), Svetlana Boym (nostalgia).
i LIKE OPTIONS 2 AND 3: PERHAPS I CAN COMBINE THEM TOGETHER?
blending a strong conceptual frame (like the role of the artist as a cultural translator) with something more intimate and gendered (like the intercultural female gaze) could make for a beautifully layered, original thesis.
IDEAS:
Core Criteria from the Brief:
- Reflects MY full experience on the MA: connects my past work (especially Units 3–6) with your future intercultural practice.
- Explores interculturality through critical and sensuous methods: it’s about theory, and about how i make, think, feel, and reflect.
- Demonstrates strategy, interconnectedness, and sustainability: think long-term relevance—how this project is part of my future practice.
- Polished, clearly communicated, and audience-aware:
- Rich media encouraged: combined written and visual/sensory elements like a short film, drawings, narration, or illustration.
- Audience includes collaborators, employers, partners: it’s also a “calling card” for life after MA.
Best Direction Based on This Brief:
I think combining Option 3: “Intercultural Intimacy and the Female Gaze” and Option 4: “Memory, Myth, and the Artist as Cultural Translator”
- Show how my practice is rooted in specific, embodied cultural experiences (like female spaces, community, familial memory)
- Position myself as a diasporic artist who navigates cultural translation through visual and emotional languages
- Offer a critical theoretical framework grounded in feminist, postcolonial, and intercultural thought
- Reflect on my own practice and where it’s heading
- Create a layered, beautifully authored video/paper that holds emotional, intellectual, and artistic weight
Thesis Title Ideas (Working Titles)
- “The Soft Translator: Intercultural Intimacy Through the Feminine Gaze”
- “Drawing the In-Between: Interculturality, Memory, and the Feminine Gesture”
- “From Mother Tongue to Visual Voice: Diasporic Intimacy in the Artist’s Gaze”
- “Myth, Memory and Matrilineage: Interculturality as Intimate Practice”