Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Diasporic artists'

This thesis critically evaluates the charting of ‘home’ and ‘exile’ in regards to four Diasporic female artists from the Middle East, specifically, Iraq and Palestine. The study employs a dual approach in the examination of Diaspora; a theoretical one that engages in the literature on Diaspora and a practical one founded on the author’s interviews with the artists. Thus a comparative analysis of their biographical narratives with the existing literature underpins the discussion of the various realities of home and exile. Moreover, the study links three broad themes in its analysis and is thereby divided thematically into six chapters, excluding the study’s introduction and conclusion. Providing a sociopolitical perspective, Chapters One and Two examine the modern histories of Iraq and Palestine, depicting the political climate of both countries in general but more specifically in regards to the personal and individual experiences of the artists in their homelands. This, essentially, is set up in a way to illustrate the physical locality from which their uprooting and Diasporic journeys were initiated. Chapters Three and Four offer a theoretical outlook in their analysis of the issues pertaining to Diaspora; Chapter Three examines the Diasporic memories of the artists and their sense of distance from, or attachment to, the homeland from their positions in exile. Through examining the artists’ relationship with the homeland this chapter sheds light on the relationality of place and thus conceptualizes their Diasporic consciousness. Subsequently, Chapter Four demonstrates how the Diasporic consciousness of the artists grounds their ascriptions of ‘home’ and ‘exile’ and the construction of their Diasporic identity. The concluding chapters, Five and Six, grant the artists’ Diasporic trajectories visual narratives through an exploration of their artwork. The chapters uncover personal links between their artwork and their Diasporic context, and therefore highlight their work’s Diasporic iconography and biographical significance. The imagery in these chapters thus offers unique insights into the turmoil of war, exile, and loss, and the complexities of the Diasporic experience. Overall, the study rethinks the concepts of ‘home’ and ‘exile’ as grounded in fixed geographical foundations, and upholds that fundamental to the complex mapping of such notions is its location within the geographies of the mind.

La création artistique germano-turque débute officiellement avec la venue des premiers ouvriers turcs en Allemagne (le l'Ouest suite aux accords signés entre la Turquie et la R. F. A. Pour survivre à ces nouvelles conditions dans un pays étranger, certains ouvriers se sont réfugiés dans l'écriture et la peinture pour échapper à la dureté de leur réalité en diaspora. De quelle façon crée -t-on en diaspora ? C'est à la suite de différents traités, dont celui d'Ankara en 1963 que le recrutement allemand en main-d'ccuvre turque débute. Dès les années soixante, par l'écriture, le cinéma et la peinture les germano-turcs n'ont cessé d'exprimer leur vision personnelle de l'exil, du pays perdu, de la difficile adaptation à l'Allemagne, du sentiment aliénant de leur altérité. Les artistes germano-turcs de la seconde génération ont préféré une approche plus identitaire de leur oeuvre jusqu'à chercher à ne plus être perçus comme des artistes d'origine immigrée. Cependant, la scène artistique allemande était-elle prête à ce bouleversement et à cette confrontation qui remettait en cause certains fondements mêmes de la société allemande ? Ces artistes ont analysé ces changements des années du Mur à la réunification, répondant à leur manière à certains phénomènes inquiétants, comme la montée de la xénophobie née d''un très fort sentiment de frustration de la part des anciens allemands de l'Est qui s'estimaient floués. Les artistes germano-turcs ont apporté un second souffle -. La création nationale et internationale allemande, en contribuant à son rayonnement, même si à de nombreux égards, ce phénomène reste encore circonscrit à des milieux alternatifs. Ces artistes symbolisent néanmoins une nouvelle identité allemande et citoyenne, cosmopolite et soucieuse d'un enrichissement mutuel
Thé German 7-urkish artistic création offrcially starts ,rith thé seulement qf thé ffrsv irorkers in West German}', after commercial contracta ,rere signed behreen Turkey and Western Germany. Ta be able to bare their new conditions of living in a foreign connu), sonie ,rockers found confort through uritingt painting or lacer one making movies. /loir hegan thé nrrkish diaspora in Germany? w'hat are thé aspects of urlistic creation. ? offThé Treaty gPAnkara negociated in 1963. Reinforced thé German gouvernemental ambition to recruite turkish rockers. This treaty iciali_ed thé seulement of umkish ,rockers. In thé aiches, by ,rritingi making movies and painting, thé German-7brkish have not stopped expressing thé subjectivit}> of their own expérience: thé Peeling of exile. Thé ancestors country left behind, thé d fficulty to adapt ta Gerrmarry. Thé impression of aliénation due to their parucularity. At thé start German-Tarrkish art ,ras an art of revendication, but an évolution is to he nouced since thé artists of thé second génération concentrated themselves on their personnal identiry•. But chia art is not only an art of identiry, sonie of thé artists critici-e thé fact chat critiques and institutions considerate and classify, their art as immigrant art ,rock. But irere thé German artisuc institutions ready for such changes, chat had conseyuences on german sociery and gennan rnentalities? These artists have anal}sed thé progressiv metamorphosis of Germany during thé Wall years and after thé reunificalion, ans,rering in their oirn ,ray to an anguisihing phenanena, such as thé raising ofxenophobia. The Gerrnan Turkish artists have brought new birth to thé national institutions in Germany, giving although an other international image. Even though chia germent turkish creation is stil/ for a large aspect of if, an underground creation It'evertheless. Chia creation symbolises a rtew gernan identiry. Open to cultural exchange and avare of thé richness of such relation

As our world ramps up the speed of its connections, our identities merge with increasing speed and angles of confluence. Not only are new identities created, but also the more fringe social and cultural elements of our world are exposed to mainstream consciousness. My work is a product of my own fringe background (namely its sheer breadth of experiences not normally visited upon a single person's life). My aim is to add variables to our social and cultural speed of combination and new variety by creating work that is derived from my own experiences to speak to those who are of the newer combinations and newer social recognition. I am motivated to create this work both to perpetually define and redefine myself, and also to give ground to an ‘identity of no identity' on a global scale, to our artistic dialogue and catalog.

This practice-led research project investigates the impact of displacement on the idea of home in the new place. By focusing on some Iranian migrants who practice art in Australia and analysing their selected works, this project aims to discuss how memories from the past and imaginations can influence on the idea of home in the new place, and how home can be visualised based on experiences of migration and displacement. Considering the emotional impact of displacement on the idea of home, and Iranian collaborators’ responses to the definitions of home and homeland, as well as producing artworks, this studio based research project explores home can be defined within personal experiences, social and cultural relationships and attachments to a particular place.

A presente dissertação constitui um estudo etnomusicológico do musicar de artistas imigrantes haitianos no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. O trabalho etnográfico contemplou a observação-participante de eventos do grupo diaspórico haitiano, apresentações musicais, sessões de gravação, entrevistas e apresentações de programas de rádio feitas por e/ou com diversos artistas haitianos. A pesquisa foi fundamentada em trabalho colaborativo e participativo, no qual exerci uma função de mediação e tornei-me ator social dentro do próprio fenômeno, e incluiu trabalho netnográfico em redes sociais e de comunicação. Através de um olhar voltado à autonomia da migração, o objetivo do trabalho foi analisar na produção e atuação musical de artistas imigrantes haitianos as dimensões e fluxos transnacionais, as questões de cosmopolitismo inerentes à condição diaspórica de haitianos enquanto imigrantes negros no Brasil, a manutenção e reposicionamento de identidades socioculturais assim como tensões ligadas à religião e a processos de construção de alteridade racial.
The present thesis constitutes an ethnomusicological study of the musicking of Haitian immigrant artists in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The ethnographic work consisted in participant-observation conducted in events of the Haitian diasporic group, musical performances, recording sessions, interviews and radio broadcasting, done with/by various Haitian artists. The research was based in a collaborative and participative work ethos, in which I exercised the role of mediator and social actor within the actual phenomenon studied, and included virtual fieldwork in social and communication networks. By means of an autonomy of migration gaze, the purpose of this work was to analyze, through the music of Haitian immigrant artists: transnational flows and dimensions, issues of cosmopolitanism inherent to the Haitian condition as black migrants in Brazil, the maintenance and repositioning of sociocultural identities, as well as anxieties regarding religion and processes of racial othering.

This thesis focuses on an African-American female artist, Valerie Maynard, examining how she synthesizes African and American elements in her works. It provides detailed formal and iconographical analyses, revealing concealed meanings and paying special attention to those works with which the artist mirrors the Black experience in the United States and Africa on the other side of the Atlantic. In the process, the thesis sheds new light on the significance of Valerie Maynard's work and how she has used some of them to embody the Black quest for freedom and social justice during the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s and 1970s and beyond.

Après la Révolution culturelle, toute une génération de compositeurs de Chine continentale a émergé sur la scène internationale. Ce mouvement est indissociable de la mondialisation artistique, puisque beaucoup de ces compositeurs se sont dispersés dans le monde pour se construire hors de leur contexte culturel d’origine. C’est à Chen Zhen, un plasticien chinois de la même génération, que nous avons emprunté les trois concepts de « résidence, résonance et résistance », pour éclairer leurs trajectoires. 1 Résidence Comment relier par cette notion des compositeurs qui vivent aux États-Unis, en Europe, et même … en Chine ? Ce n’est pas dans la géographie qu’il faut chercher un ancrage commun, mais plutôt dans l’histoire. Dix années de Révolution culturelle, suivies de dix années d’ouverture, ont façonné très fortement cette génération.2 Résonance Dans la délicate alchimie à opérer entre techniques occidentales et traditions musicales chinoises, on repère une sorte de circulation entre différentes couches de mémoire. L’étude des œuvres permet de voir combien les influences s’enchevêtrent.3 Résistance On note chez nombre de compositeurs chinois une volonté de se démarquer de la musique contemporaine occidentale : univers incontournable pour être reconnu, elle semble avoir opéré à la manière d’une sorte de « surmoi ». On peut y voir la résurgence de l’idéal esthétique chinois ancien du naturel (ziran), mais aussi un accommodement aux lois du marché
After the Cultural Revolution, a whole generation of Chinese composers arrived on the international music scene. It is not possible to dissociate this movement from the artistic globalisation, since almost all of these composers are spread out over the different continents and are working outside of their original cultural context. To clarify the paths taken by these composers, we shall use the categories (“residence, resonance and resistance”) elaborated by Chen Zhen, a Chinese visual artist of the same generation1. ResidenceHow can we possibly group together under this term composers living in the United States, Europe and even … in China? We cannot look to geography to find a common basis but rather to history. Ten years of the Cultural Revolution followed by another ten where China had opened to the West have had a very strong impact on this generation of composers.2. ResonanceIn the delicate alchemy that takes place between Western technique and Chinese musical tradition, we can see a certain inter-penetration of different layers of memory. Studying the works of these composers, we can see how much these influences become entangled.3. ResistanceWe can notice with many of these Chinese composers a growing tendency to take distance from Western contemporary music, a world essential to be part of, if one wants recognition, acting as a kind of Super-Ego. We can see this phenomenon like the resurgence of very old Chinese aesthetic concept, the ideal of the “natural” (ziran) or like a compromise with the market power

Mixed Hues on the Palette: Reflections of the Diasporic Artist Painting Across Two Landscapes deals with the experiences of Maltese-Australian artists in diaspora that, willingly or otherwise, affects them in working across two different cultural landscapes. More specifically, the study explores: how does diasporic existence shape the artistic performance?

Study examines "the contemporary art practice of three diasporic artists: Guan Wei, Wang Zhiyuan, and Ah Xian and documents their practice and analyses their work using contextual methods".. This project sheds light on Australian art that reflects an emerging global aesthetic. I map the historically oriented relations of artistic exchange in the Asia-Australia region with a focus on contemporary hybrid art created by diasporic artists. I am primarily concerned with the mobile and adaptive cultural exchanges between cultures in response to globalisation. Globalisation is seen as the tension between the global and the local where each informs the other. The underlying processes of globalisation are used to develop an aesthetic that underpins contemporary hybrid art practice located on the interstice between the global and local. I outline a new aesthetics to engage with such transformational art based on multiaxiality, dispersion, transience, unassimilabilty, translation and hybridity. Through case study, I address the contemporary art practice of three diasporic artists: Guan Wei, Wang Zhiyuan, and Ah Xian using a global aesthetic. Taking the artwork of these artists, I document their practice and analyse their work using contextual methods. Finally, I detail the outcomes and syntheses of the research emerging from history, place, theory and most importantly art practice informed by globalisation. The study has implications for artists, theorists, historians, and critics concerning specifically Chinese/-Australian art and contemporary hybrid art in Australia and Asia.

The creative submission for my dissertation includes two of my documentary works: They Will Take My Island, a thirty-minute multimedia collaboration with filmmaker Atom Egoyan for amplified string octet, electronic track, and film, commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Paper Pianos, a ninety-minute staged collaboration with director Nigel Maister and projection artist Kevork Mourad. The written submission for my dissertation is an examination of the ways in which experiences around transgenerational trauma inform and manifest in my creative practice. I offer a summary of my own family history of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and Lebanese Civil War, as well as a survey of displacement amongst the Armenian community in the past century. Furthermore, I discuss identity processing as diaspora and the act of cultural preservation, as inspired by genocide survivor, composer, priest, writer, and musicologist, Komitas Vardapet. I later examine these ideas in the context of creating They Will Take My Island and Paper Pianos, both of which were constructively motivated by transgenerational survivor’s guilt and draw from extra-musical documentary and horror genre practices.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2006.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 05, 2006) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: DeVeaux, Alexis, Dimitriadis, Gregg. Includes bibliographical references.

Happiness, ritual, and sovereignty are artists’ persistent aspirations in the African- and Afro-Asian diasporas. “The Cinema of Social Dreamers” explores why the dreamscape is increasingly becoming the creative form for the expression of these social ambitions. This dissertation particularly spotlights the award-winning films and new media projects that exploit the dreamscape aesthetic in contemporary Caribbean and diasporic art. My analysis focuses on this tropical region, as well as its transnational impact in Canada, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Central to this manuscript are the artists Mariette Monpierre, Michelle Mohabeer, and Minia Biabiany. I specifically engage their questions of happiness, spirituality, sexuality, and sovereignty in the wake of colonialism. The range of the narrative media these artists employ—from installation art and new media to sensational melodramas—also evidences the richness of the contemporary moment. While their award-winning works have flourished in niche film festivals and at fine art institutions, “The Cinema of Social Dreamers” is the first to present them as the subject of deep comparative analysis. By placing the Caribbean archipelago at the center of my work, I also highlight that the economy of art-making (and art history) remains a complex interdisciplinary, multilingual, and transnational project.

Noticeably, there is little to no cross-cultural analysis of Black queer women artists of the African diaspora in Diaspora, Literary and Theatre and Performance studies. These disciplines tend to focus on geographic locations with an emphasis on the United States, the Caribbean islands and Europe in relation to the African continent. In addition, the work of Black men artists holds precedence in discussions of blackness, diaspora, and performance. Overwhelmingly, the contributions of Black women artists in the diaspora pales in comparison to their male counterparts, especially in number. More drastically, the voices of Black queer women artists actually published are few. Because of these discrepancies within scholarship and practice, I follow the footsteps of the late scholar Gay Wilentz to advocate a diaspora literacy of Black women writers across the diaspora. I employ a transnational feminist approach to survey the work of Sharon Bridgforth and Trey Anthony, two Black queer women artists who explore intersectionality in regards to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and nationality. I also curated and produced Black/Queer/Diaspora/Womyn Festival, a festival of staged readings and panel discussions that placed both artists at the center. This thesis fully details the planning and execution of the festival, an evaluation of the successes and pitfalls of the festival, and then draws conclusions on how both scholars and practitioners can further engage in a diaspora literacy for Black queer women artists.