Reflecting self : an exploration of drawing trace as reciprocity between self and life-world, with reference to my own drawing and selected works of Diane Victor

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study postulates that drawing functions as a valuable vehicle that facilitates reciprocity betweenthe drafter and her life-world. This relationship of exchange can bring about transformation of theself.The study is a qualitative study that aims to establish an understanding of how drawing functions as avehicle facilitating reciprocity between the drafter and her life-world. In order to effectively researchthe transformative potential of reciprocity between artist, drawing, and life-world, theoretically andpractically, the study is divided into two main parts. Firstly, it constitutes a theoretical section, whichforms the foundation for further exploration in the second part of the study. Secondly, the studyfocuses on the practical manifestation of the theories as manifest in my drawings and in selecteddrawings of Diane Victor, whose work primarily functions as 'a third person perspective' in relationto my own work.The study is rooted in a psycho-analytical framework, focusing on Self psychology andIntersubjective Psychoanalysis of personality psychologists such as Jung, Miller, Goldberg andMcAdams, amongst others, as well as the writings of philosophers, art historians and drawingtheorists such as Jacques Derrida, Catherine de Zegher, and Suzi Gablik. Valuable links are forgedbetween the transformative potential of drawing, the psychological and the spiritual. Parallels aredrawn between notions derived from self-psychology and theology, based on the premise that humanbeings constitute body (physical aspect), soul (mind and emotion) and spirit, three components thatare hardly divisible and that work together in drawing, effecting the transformation of the self. I arguethat a failure to acknowledge the significance of the interactivity between these facets limits andinhibits the transformative potential of the drawing process. Through interactivity between the selfand her life-world through drawing, moments of 'recognition' and 'knowing' occur - concerninghidden 'truths' of the self, which could affect personal transformation. In this study, life-worldcomprises inner and outer world, a visible and invisible world. The visible world focuses on theinteraction of the self with nature and culture, and the invisible world focuses on the interaction of theself with a psychic world, which includes the workings of the conscious and unconscious mind indrawing and their connection with a spiritual dimension.The spiritual aspect in drawing is researched through the notions of transformative 'presence and the'transcendent function of drawing. The study explores the psychological and spiritual value ofdrawings as transformative selfobjects to address the general neglect of the spiritual. I affirm thatthere exists a mutually conducive potential and influence that the interplay between the spiritual andthe psychological in the drawing process bring about. As a 'selfobject, a drawing attains its own 'silent visual language' replacing or assisting the role of the therapist, becoming pivotal in atransformative 'interpersonal dialogue'. Lastly, Jung (Miller, 2004:4) claims that the unification ofthe conscious and unconscious eventually results in 'a living birth that leads to a new level of being, anew situation (Miller, 2004:4).

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University