Tales of transformation: enacting displaced identity

Submission note: A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Visual Arts by creative work to the School of Communication & Critical Enquiry, Visual Arts & Design, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Bendigo.

Tales of Transformation-enacting displaced identity is a creative Master of Visual Arts by research and explores notions of cultural displacement and the creation of a trans-identity through a photographic body of work and supporting exegesis. Tales of Transformation consists of 13 light paintings that have explored the concept of actively displacing a selection of Norwegian myths and folktales in an Australian landscape, as they explore and cultivate a space in-between these two diverse cultures. The selection has been transformed through the translation from one cultural context to another and allowed to grow to see what remains, what is lost, what translates, if anything, and what is created when past, present and future is merged to re-form an idea of home. The project is informed by the theories of writer and curator Nicholas Bourriaud, who hypothesizes about how postmodernism is over and has been replaced by what he calls Altermodernity. The Altermodern, according to Bourriaud, stems from ideas of otherness and difference, and proposes multiple paths as opposed to a single route. Bourriaud views the contemporary artist as nomad, and as radicant; a botanical term for plants that continue to grow roots as they progress, like strawberry plants or creepers. According to Bourriaud, translation is in itself an act of displacement. This exegesis looks at Bourriaud’s theories, specific to that of the radicant artist, and sets them in context with the works of 5 contemporary artists from various disciplines; Mohammed Qasim Ashfaq, Parastou Forouhar, Michael Cook, Greg Semu and Mitra Tabrizian. These artists and their work, in diverse ways, all fit the label of radicant. The exegesis lays out the conceptual and practical framework for this body of work from idea to finished piece. In addition, it also looks at the radicant growth of Norwegian folktales on their journey from oral to written and beyond.