Self/Painting Practice/Social Practice

Abstract

The research model of Self/Painting Practice/Social Practice that I propose in this paper arose out of a desire to theorize my own practice within the context of a practice-based Ph.D. and evolved in tandem with that practice. This triangulated model seeks to identify the interconnected threads in the construction of paintings as part of the construction of the self. The self I define as an embodied and gendered subject which is pursued, in terms of this model, through ‘critical autobiography’. Painting practice, I argue, is the crux of this triangulated model of self in that this is where Self/Painting Practice/Social Practice are enacted/embodied. Social practice I argue, is the practice of enacting and constructing the self in relation to others both in terms of the writing and the painting.