Art and conversion : an investigation of ritual, memory and healing in the process of making art

[摘要] This thesis investigates the concept of conversion which arose out of the process ofmaking soap as medium for my body of sculptural works and signifying its materialtransformation with 'cleaning' and 'conversion' – terms encountered in research intochemical transformation (in alchemy) and further endorsed by my linking mysculptural forms, resembling fonts, to religious conversion. A line of theoreticalresearch was thus traced into ritual as an embodied experience of recalling memory inthe desire for redemption or healing.Contemporary South Africa art, it seemed, was also going through a conversionprocess. The movement, from the domination of apartheid to the profound change ofthe 'new South Africa', necessitated a sense of tolerance in response to thereawakening of the diversity of cultures, rituals and memories. Thus present debatesurrounding the concerns of reconciliation and restitution requires a re-evaluation ofthe importance of memory – to forget, to renew or to uphold – in the desire forhealing. This has re-awakened an appreciation of multi-cultural rituals and invokednew self-consciousness and a reformulation of identity.I was thus inspired to investigate transformation in terms of art theory, psychologyand philosophy. By identifying Freud's psychoanalytic concept of transference and of'working-through' as a part of his 'Theory of Conversion', I arrived at thisproposition: art initiates an awakening of self-consciousness. In arguing for thevitality of the mythopoetic imagination, as held within the unconscious, however, Iclaim that art, as an embodied process, draws from memory, and resonates within thecontext of a ritualised empathic interrelatedness of ourselves as humans in theenvironment.In attempting to understand the South African transformation, which resembles thespirit of Renaissance Humanism, I examined how historical shifts influence bothinter-human and environment/human relationships. Operating largely in terms of thetransference of power and belief, these moved, in an ever-recurring cycle, throughsixteenth century Renaissance Humanism, which tolerated diverse religiousconvictions, to Cartesian reason and the quest for certainty, manifesting in religiousand politically motivated wars. This revolution, I believe, has occurred again fromthe modern to the postmodern era.I believe, therefore, that art has a healing capacity. This flows from a metanoia – aturning around – effected in both artist and audience. Through this creative andaesthetic view of art, experienced in my practical making and substantiated in mytheoretical research, art, I conclude, initiates inner conversion and thus healing.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University