Day Fraser, Hélène

In this thesis, I discuss feminist acts of resistance and the politics of location, relating this to my own artwork and to that of other performance artists. Taking this as a point of departure, I further position my creative practice in relation to other artists who explore identity and self-imaging and who deploy strategies such as camouflage to discuss aspects of the human condition. The artwork leads to a tangible personal transformation in the final performance at the end of the program. Nomadic thought helps to situate the final piece on a trajectory that makes nomadic acts of counter-actualization a viable path forward as a feminist artist. In the following pages, using an autoethnographic approach, I share personal stories that relate to the artwork, weaving together events and situations that took place over a lifetime and synthesized into my current art practice. As an interdisciplinary performance artist, I create wearable, performative art for the camera. I applied for the Master’s program at Emily Carr to step fully into live performance. I began the Master’s in June 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had begun, making a live audience impossible - and would not become possible - until the end of the program two years later. Being ‘performative’ - sewing wearable art and documenting it on film and video - was my way of adapting to the pandemic restrictions and was a new direction in my practice. In addition to performance/performative art, I write and perform original music, paint, and create video, conceptual and installation art. I will focus this writing on the art that was made during my time at Emily Carr, where I performed for the camera and was eventually able to perform for a live audience at the final grad show in July 2022. This thesis will also discuss the use of humour in feminist art. Humour is often present in my art, but I employ absurdity when levity isn’t possible. By employing absurdity, for example making a beautiful dress with huge 25 foot long sleeves, a sense of humour is evident even if the work isn’t funny. Hence: absurdity strives to reach through this serious moment in time as a reminder that one day, we can laugh about this too. I will position the ‘funniest’ art I have made with other feminist artists who use humour in their work.

In this thesis, I discuss feminist acts of resistance and the politics of location, relating this to my own artwork and to that of other performance artists. Taking this as a point of departure, I further position my creative practice in relation to other artists who explore identity and self-imaging and who deploy strategies such as camouflage to discuss aspects of the human condition. The artwork leads to a tangible personal transformation in the final performance at the end of the program. Nomadic thought helps to situate the final piece on a trajectory that makes nomadic acts of counter-actualization a viable path forward as a feminist artist. In the following pages, using an autoethnographic approach, I share personal stories that relate to the artwork, weaving together events and situations that took place over a lifetime and synthesized into my current art practice. As an interdisciplinary performance artist, I create wearable, performative art for the camera. I applied for the Master’s program at Emily Carr to step fully into live performance. I began the Master’s in June 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had begun, making a live audience impossible - and would not become possible - until the end of the program two years later. Being ‘performative’ - sewing wearable art and documenting it on film and video - was my way of adapting to the pandemic restrictions and was a new direction in my practice. In addition to performance/performative art, I write and perform original music, paint, and create video, conceptual and installation art. I will focus this writing on the art that was made during my time at Emily Carr, where I performed for the camera and was eventually able to perform for a live audience at the final grad show in July 2022. This thesis will also discuss the use of humour in feminist art. Humour is often present in my art, but I employ absurdity when levity isn’t possible. By employing absurdity, for example making a beautiful dress with huge 25 foot long sleeves, a sense of humour is evident even if the work isn’t funny. Hence: absurdity strives to reach through this serious moment in time as a reminder that one day, we can laugh about this too. I will position the ‘funniest’ art I have made with other feminist artists who use humour in their work.

This practice-based research addresses my crafts practice to redirect through design my professional activity as a woodworker and metalworker. The thesis documents and reflects on my work and findings over the course of a one-and-a-half-year process of engaging with reflective practice and practice-based research. The work approaches creative and expressive-related concerns through thematic forms, repetition, and reinterpretation, and inquiries about the affordances and distinct mindsets of designing and making through productive perspectives as contrasting as lo-fi hand-making and the use of digital means for designing and fabricating. The design outcomes range from small objects produced in domestic settings as part of weekly assignments, to months-long, self-driven projects producing big pieces of furniture at the shops in the university.