School of Art - Theses

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Author: Hall, Jessica Catherine × End date: 2009 × Start date: 2000 × Type: Masters Research thesis ×

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    Conflict in Australia: shifting identities, art and self
    Hall, Jessica Catherine ( 2009)
    My research aims to examine the following question: How has conflict shaped the Australian psyche and impacted on aspects of identity in Australian visual art? The written component focuses on how conflict has manifested in specific key artworks and culture, through a historical and cultural analysis. The written component examines two major influences on Australian identity. The first is the production and use of natural history painting by colonists in Australia, and how these paintings were used as a method of constructing, visually and conceptually, an image or idea of what Australia is. The second influence on Australian identity is the impact of conflict. The use of punishment by colonists, European settlers’ experience of hardship on the land, and the impact of World War 1 all contributed to the notion of the ‘Aussie Battler’, which was constructed by settlers, through their experience of conflict as a way of understanding their relationship to Australia. The use of masculine stereotypes in the artwork of Ben Quilty and Adam Cullen will be discussed, as a contemporary response to issues that have historical roots. My artwork is an exploration of personal identity through the idea of conflict in Australia both historically and contemporaneously. The paintings source images from history and from contemporary culture, in order to make links with the past and create future imaginings. The written component and the artwork both reflect issues of personal and national identity; masks are used as a symbol of identity, and of covered identity, turning an individual into a pack animal. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s theory on becoming-animal is used in relation to identity. Specific examples from the work of artists Sidney Nolan, Joy Hester, Lyndell Brown and Charles Green will be cited in the discussion of conflict. My artwork responds to present and past conflict in Australia and imagines possible futures. Some of the artwork uses army imagery and camouflage as a way of visually suggesting the impact of conflict on personal and national identity.