The School of Visual & Performing Arts is able to provide supervision for PhD candidates. Supervision depends on the research project and can be accommodated either solely through SVPA or as a joint arrangement with another School. The thesis for a PhD in visual arts may be presented in one of two forms: (i) exhibition and exegesis, or (ii) theoretical thesis. Option (i) results from a studio-based enquiry project, and incorporates an exhibition of the studio work produced during the program and a supporting written exegesis. Option (ii) is a written document which conforms to norms for PhD theses in the humanities and social sciences.
Some Current PHd Projects
In art, we subconsciously accept that a fragment of a whole may precipitate a vision of the whole: that is, if we examine say, in an archaeological dig, a fragment of an ancient work of art, we can visualise what the whole must have been. Therefore, I propose to examine some aspects of classical and renaissance sculpture from an archaeological/historical perspective, using some examples as case studies. From this, I will explore how this process of visualising and extending from a fragment is developed to create an image, or a form. This process can be a key driver that influences the interpretation of contemporary art practice.
David Hamilton
"My own investigations will focus on the physical, temporal, spiritual and conceptual space that surrounds the physicality of the object and how the form and quality of an object can influence our reading and subsequent interpretation of that surrounding space."
The human relationship with the natural world is of an ongoing and continuous nature. As such, I feel that so often, elements of the surrounding organic environment may pass us by, largely unnoticed – just as something that is ever-present so subtly fades from the foreground of our thoughts. In this sense, I feel that the relationship between the individual and the natural world is one that is coloured by a myriad of interactions – countless moments when an experience evokes a reawakening, a realisation of place, space and existence within. I find a sense of this in the earliest hours of the morning, the time when although still dark there is a definite feeling that night is fading, receding, creeping back into the dark and hidden places of the world. Standing there, I become aware of the newness of the world. A wind wraps itself around me, bringing with it distant birdcalls and air so cold that it seems to reach right through me.
Carly Peters
"I I feel a rushing forward of sensory and psychological stimulation, as though all the while something around me is building and growing to the point that it overflows and washes onto me. A realisation germinates and spreads within me, slowly at first, then taking hold so suddenly and strongly that I feel almost swallowed up. I become aware that in this instant, I am no longer simply an observer; in this instant, in this moment I am somehow connected to it all."
"The project titled World Beyond the Horizon, is an investigation relating to light and its effect on the landscape. I have revisited the landscape of Northern Tasmania from the ‘flight view’, recording imagery and sound, reflecting on my past experience as a pilot. The research deals with the way individuals form a perceived experience as they witness the immediate relationship of light falling on a particular landscape. Furthermore, the project explores the notion of ‘extreme’ perception based on physical and mental responses. Perception is a highly synthetic process and some times very erroneous, far from individual expectation. I have used the 1979 Mount Erebus aviation disaster in Antarctica as a case study, one involving perceptual illusions, a psychology that underpins my project and its findings. I have built the Optical Laboratory, a machine that enables me to express visual ideas through a creative process moving freely between the perceptions of reality and illusion by transmitting moving and still imagery by means of projected light. This process has been stimulated by a creative collaboration between art and other disciplines and practices. "
Simon Bourke
"In the eighteen hundreds, artists such as Joseph Turner pioneered new ways of depicting light; his style becoming increasingly free and abstract. His paintings are atmospheric and immersive with recognizable forms disappearing almost entirely, leaving only light, space and the natural elements. These paintings depict the ‘flight view’ as I know it. His disclosure, together with input from other artists pertinent to the examination, help to conceptualise the artwork I have created within the inquiry. Through art, I have explored the various ways humans perceive (through sight and sound) a particular environment using ‘mental sets’, a familiar theme in psychology. The visual and aural outcomes, demonstrate my perceived experience within a landscape, extending to the ‘extreme’ of perception and beyond as an illusion then reconstructing the reality of the normal experience.
My project investigates the structural and visual elements of the
supermarket environment. It will consist of a series of paintings and a twenty thousand word exegesis. Having worked in this artificial denatured space for over five years a strange relationship has developed. I have found that existing in this kind of environment for long periods evokes a kind of surreal headspace that mirrors the removed and coded order inherent to supermarket structure and
culture. In my work I try to convey this idea of an altered mindset. I believe many people in society today experience this kind of separation from their true selves because of their workplace situations.
Gavin Campbell
I I I I'm interested in the irony of a culture that worships money in the pursuit of happiness but seems to be suffering more than ever. My paintings use the visual order of the product in the supermarket as a metaphor for the human figure, suggesting that perhaps our pursuit of the material has gone too far and we are in danger of losing that which distinguishes us from what we desire.
Legends and folklores of heroic and demonic characters formed the
foundation of the work of ancient Asian artists. These distinct qualities
helped to connect the Asian artists to their rich cultural heritage
whilst establishing a unique artistic identity. If observed closely,
such distinct features have been slowly embraced and critically analysed
by contemporary Asian artists to preserve and retain their cultural
heritage. Even if the tone and the medium have evolved over the years,
the ancient artistic content is far from extinction. Content structure
derived from historic Malay annals, folklores, fables and conceptual
studies of traditional Hinduism and Islamic theology and philosophical
practices are constantly resurfacing within contemporary artistic
context. Romantic re-visitation of ancient classics with mystical
practices and mythological themes in a postmodern setting within
socio-historical texts has resulted in an engaging trend among modern
Malay artists in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. As Western ideology
and nationalistic pluralism threaten to undermine the traditional Eastern
Malay mystical and cultural values, the philosophical quest for "truth
and self" has never been so important and engaging until this time.
Maznah Ahmad
I I I My research centres on the manner in which globalisation and changing
economic and political situations help to redefine Asian Malay identity
in making art. I will attempt to echo the significant influences of
colonialism, globalisation and transmigration while tracing the progress and development of postmodern hybridisation of visual art practices of traditional Malay batik painting technique for the formulation of visual discourses. By referencing to socio-cultural/anthropological studies,
this research work aims to develop a new prognosis for Asian Malay Visual
Arts practices within a socio-historical context in postmodern Asia.
Ultimately by cross-referencing concepts and theoretical analysis with a practical investigative process, I will be able to sharpen my critical
observational and reasoning skills as an Asian research candidate and
visual arts practitioner.
