University Library
  • Login
A gateway to Melbourne's research publications
Minerva Access is the University's Institutional Repository. It aims to collect, preserve, and showcase the intellectual output of staff and students of the University of Melbourne for a global audience.
View Item 
  • Minerva Access
  • Fine Arts and Music
  • Centre for Ideas
  • Centre for Ideas - Theses
  • View Item
  • Minerva Access
  • Fine Arts and Music
  • Centre for Ideas
  • Centre for Ideas - Theses
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Beautiful little dead things: empathy, witnessing, trauma and animals' suffering

    Thumbnail
    Download
    Beautiful little dead things: empathy, witnessing, trauma and animals' suffering - Volume I (1.149Mb)

    Beautiful little dead things: empathy, witnessing, trauma and animals' suffering - Volume II (39.93Mb)

    Citations
    Altmetric
    Author
    MOWSON, LYNN
    Date
    2015
    Affiliation
    Centre for Ideas
    School of Art
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Document Type
    PhD thesis
    Access Status
    Open Access
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11343/43080
    Description

    © 2014 Dr. Lynn Mowson

    Abstract
    This sculptural practice-led research investigates empathy, trauma and witnessing and the role of testimony in visual arts practice. The thesis argues that Edith Stein’s phenomenological account of empathy articulates an empathic encounter that recognizes the alterity of the other. Stein’s account, I argue, can be drawn out to include encounters with nonhuman animals and sculptural objects that resemble embodied forms. Responding to developments in my sculptural practice the research examined the possibility of visual art practices to bear witness to the ongoing suffering of animals: marking out the possibility for sculptural objects to perform as testimonial objects. As testimonial objects they attest to the trauma of the one who witnesses for the other. Ethical considerations in relation to materiality, representation and the position of one who testifies for, or on behalf of, the other are examined.
    Keywords
    sculpture; figurative sculpture; sculptural body; empathy; Edith Stein; human-animal studies; flesh; skin; witnessing; bearing witness; trauma; testimony; animals' suffering; animals' advocates; traumatic knowledge; wax sculpture; latex sculpture; animals; art; critical animal studies

    Export Reference in RIS Format     

    Endnote

    • Click on "Export Reference in RIS Format" and choose "open with... Endnote".

    Refworks

    • Click on "Export Reference in RIS Format". Login to Refworks, go to References => Import References


    Collections
    • Centre for Ideas - Theses [26]
    • School of Art - Theses [178]
    Minerva AccessDepositing Your Work (for University of Melbourne Staff and Students)NewsFAQs

    BrowseCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects
    My AccountLoginRegister
    StatisticsMost Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors