writing about process...

The last few weeks I've been solidly wrangling with my exegesis 'process' chapter

Higher Degrees in the Visual Arts are extremely strange beasts - especially for anyone who has undertaken postgraduate studies in pretty much any other discipline..... these folk often look on in horror at all the self-referential written material that we studio-based HDR students churn out!

As my supervisors remind me (and other uni departments I suspect!), the exegesis in a studio-based Higher Degree is not the site of the research (that's the job of creative studio work). The exegesis operates as a support document - a place to contextualise the work and to unpack research methodology

Here are a few snippets of what I've been writing about my 'studio research methodology' (ie - my process chapter).....

"Everything I create is based on my connection to and tacit understanding of a very particular place."

"My readings provide context for my interests in site, self and sustainability and help build the bridge between my interest in tacit and explicit knowledge." 

"What materials I use, where they come from, how they are made, transported, used and disposed of, and where my purchase funds go to, are all actively considered in my work. Fundamentally, I believe the means must be justifiable in the end."

"My artistic practice is defined by an interplay of dynamic opposites – fast and slow work, old and new technologies, transient and permanent creations..."

"Practical. Pragmatic. Pithy. That’s the essence of my process."

It's still a work in progress...... but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.... 

(ps when I DO finish all the writing and making
I will allow public access to a closed blog I've been keeping for the duration of my research
- in the meantime you can drop by my recently added tumblr blog
to see some of the interesting things I've recently discovered and shared...)

.....