Tensile

This thesis document, Enceinte Holobiont, explores the positional, practical, and theoretical underpinnings of my recent sculptures Composite Tension. My thesis (both conceptual and visual) focuses on the model of the maternal body that speaks to the questions I raise through these sculptural forms. I propose three questions to engage the pregnant-birthing-maternal body. I ask how maternal bodies speak to (1) repetitive domestic labour, (2) the abject, as enceinte or space of ‘other’ within a patriarchal-capitalistic society, and (3) the idea of the collective holobiont. I use the terms enceinte and holobiont as metaphors for an undefinable messy body as it relates to the capitalistic ideal of an individualized body. My explorations through sculptural forms consist mainly of sewn and crocheted objects that include a personal archive from a documentation series of domestic labour. I reference historical and contemporary feminist artists to enter the discourse of re-writing the maternal body counter to patriarchal depictions of motherhood. My artistic research is both practical and theoretical. I engage multiple tensioned conversations that address and challenge the notion of self and other, as well as how the ethics of care functions within patriarchal systems. I use the maternal body, the enceinte holobiont, as a starting point.