Year of Award
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department or School/College
School of Visual and Media Arts
Committee Chair
Julia Galloway
Commitee Members
James Bailey, H. Rafael Chacón, Valerie Hedquist
Keywords
Victorian, Flower, Emotion, Mental Health, Black and White, Memory
Publisher
University of Montana
Subject Categories
Fine Arts
Abstract
This work questions the societal disconnect between the readiness of human emotion and the restraint with which we discuss it. As the well-to-do ladies of the Victorian era would gather flowers to create tussie-mussies and nosegays to adorn themselves and send messages, the pieces of the MFA thesis exhibition Sweetbriar: I Wound to Heal divulge intense realities through the palatability and presentability of a flower’s beauty. The flowers in this work (as with Victorian Flower Language) act as signifiers for greater emotional concepts. Harebells for grief. Peonies for shame. Gorse for anger. Each flower/emotion in this exhibition is connected directly to a personal narrative. By invoking the personal, this work aims to connect to something universal – the space between what we feel and what we say.
Too often unresolved or unacknowledged emotions and realities lead to mental health crises and acts of violence. By making the private and internal public and external, this work and this paper aim to show the strength and necessity of human vulnerability. Continuing the emotional labor of the exhibition, this paper examines the effects of societal and domestic pressures on identity and encourages open emotional discourse as a way through trauma and uncertainty.
This paper will begin by examining the Victorian Era as it relates to gender-based stigmata and mental health issues. It will then provide contemporary connections to the Victorian Era followed by a broad introduction to the emotional underpinnings and personal narratives present within the work. This paper will then discuss each work in the exhibition individually, defending aesthetic and material choices as they relate to the content.
Recommended Citation
Foster, Megan, "Sweetbriar: I Wound to Heal" (2024). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12271.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12271
Included in
© Copyright 2024 Megan Foster