Date of Submission
5-2024
Type of Work
Exegesis and Creative Work
Principal Supervisor
Dr. Lola Montgomery
Associate Supervisor
Dr. Jodie Taylor
Keywords
autotheory; compostist; hydrofeminism; queer theory; magical realism; ecofeminism; using magical realism on film; queer magical spaces, queer becoming; inter-gardening; radical group theatre; devised theatre; performance art; queer performance; biophilia; ritual; coming of age; queer theory; gender performativity; speculative fiction; non-binary; agender; nostalgia; queer scavenging; assemblages; queer multiplicities; intimate insider research.
Audience
General (G) - suitable for everyone
Abstract
This research project is a work of autotheory situated under the umbrella of Queer Theory. The work encompasses a theoretical component and a short performance art film and the two should be viewed as part of the whole. The creative practice has been used as a device to speak to the theory and bring it to life. The theory has informed, and homogenised with, the making of the art film. Through the course of this creative research project I found my way to a queer becoming through the comingling of magical phenomena, composting (Haraway, 2016, p.97) and hydrofeminism (Neimanis, 2012). The project introduces the concept of inter-gardening as a way to traverse the liminal space of queer becoming and embodiment.
Scaffolding this project is a Queer Phenomenological reading of Simone de Beauvoir’s theories of societal gender conditioning and the conceivability of a hermaphrodite society. Judith Butler’s ideas of gender performativity and fragmentation amalgamate in this project with an autotheoretical and arts-based research approach. Through this lens the research uses magical realism as a tool to examine new gender realities and queer becoming.
The theory and creative work revolve around the creation of an alternative reality fused with magical possibilities. Bodies in this world are not gendered and evolve in authentic multiplicities. This re-worlding is building on the work of feminist thinker Donna Haraway and her ideas of compostists, sympoiesis and her Camille Stories. I have developed this alternative reality into a filmic world and within it adopted a character, Imra, to embody. The research project culminated in a coalescence of theory and art practice. The boundary between Imra’s journey of becoming and my own became indistinguishable.
Recommended Citation
Dienes-Browning, R. (2024). Saltwater and Dirt: Using magical spaces for queer re-worlding [Masters dissertation, SAE University College]. Creo.