The inherent liminality of lesbian detectives: Shifting spaces and lesbian crime fiction 1984-2022

This thesis studies lesbian detective fiction and specifically considers this genre in its early decades (1980s-1990s) from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. This thesis postulates that out of a sample pool of a hundred novels, there are recurring patterns of behaviours and attitudes among the protagonists of this genre within certain physical and metaphorical spaces. These patterns demonstrate a destabilised identity, as the lesbian sleuth never ceases to explore and test the boundaries of her authority as an enforcer of law and order and of her suppressed spatiality as a member of a sexual minority. This causes her to live in a perpetual state of Insider/Outsider liminality and it causes queer trauma to be a fundamental aspect of her character. This thesis considers this concept as the result of long-standing, systemic homophobia and heterosexist normativity, and utilises the notion of queer trauma to interpret the way the lesbian sleuth is inescapably stuck between a sense of duty and justice and a yearning for belonging and self-affirmation. The interpretive process is supported by an extensive and in-depth theoretical research into the fields of history, culture, geography, feminist criticism, gender, and sexuality studies for the selected subject matter. The spaces selected and analysed in this thesis are the queer closet, the medical establishment, domestic settings, and the gay bar. These spaces have been chosen for the significant, emblematic ways in which the lesbian detectives interact with them and have been analysed in order of their importance for the protagonists’ characterisation. The introduction includes introductory statements and the theoretical framework, the first chapter overviews major detectives in the history of crime literature from a spatial perspective; the second chapter discusses the queer closet; the third chapter considers the space of the clinic and the topics of queer trauma and of the pathologisation of homosexuality; the fourth chapter analyses the domestic settings of the protagonists; the fifth chapter examines the context of the gay bar and its history; finally, the conclusion offers closing statements about the focus and originality of this thesis. The originality of this thesis lies in its focus on spaces and on the relationship between the protagonist and society, law and order, and Self and Other. This thesis contributes to the knowledge of queer literature by specifically considering the unescapable liminality of the lesbian/Outsider detective/Insider

RECIPROCAL DRAWING: Bodies’ Co–dependence and Direct Contact in Performance Drawing

The author has not given permission for Aaltodoc -publishing.Reciprocal Drawing is an original method of collaborative practice situated within the field of performance drawing. In Reciprocal Drawing, two collaborators draw in the frame of reciprocal partnering strategy, which imposes uninterrupted co–dependence and contact between their bodies. The practice is carried out within two additional frames: the repertoire of actions and the score (rules and diagrams). Although these frames have been applied before, this research further jointly develops them to tackle challenges emerging from application of reciprocal strategies in drawing. The combination of frames facilitates co–exploration of reciprocal strategies’ potential for the medium. Supported by the frames, the collaborators devise complex reciprocal processes resulting in products that reflect ambiguous and nuanced human relations. The developed Reciprocal Drawing aims to extend conventional drawing by underlining the medium’s bodily–reciprocal, social potential. As an artistic research, the study focuses on Reciprocal Drawing processes and products as sources of embodied knowledge and explores the opportunities which they bring for drawing. As a phenomenological research, the study explores the embodied, relational–social dimension of Reciprocal Drawing. This is done by discussing the drawing–based experimentation conducted first solo by the researcher and then in duo form with collaborating artists. In the solo phase, the repertoire of actions was formed based on Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), a system of codified vocabulary used in understanding human movement. LMA helped the researcher to systemize and adapt body actions to the conditions of drawing in contact with the two–dimensional horizontal plane. In the collaborative phase, two strategies were identified as establishing the bodies’ co–dependence: rope–binding, originally used by Tehching Hsieh in his One Year Performance. Rope Piece (1983–84) and point–of–contact, the principle of Contact Improvisation dance. The use of rules and diagrams in the co–experiments links them to the 1970s practices of the Fluxus artists. In the reflection following the experimentation, LMA was also utilized to establish links between the complex reciprocal dynamics, the finalized drawings, and the mental states that accompanied their co–production. This aided the evaluation of the emerging opportunities. Phenomenological research theoretically guided the project allowing description, analysis, and thematic interpretation of the artist–researcher’s experience of the process to be verbalized. Following Merleau–Ponty’s philosophy, the embodied, expressive and dialogic character of Reciprocal Drawing is underlined as is its products’ capacity to be a source of self–knowledge for the creators. Additionally, with a support of theoretical perspectives in art and performance Reciprocal Drawing is identified as enabling co–exploration of physicality. Further, Reciprocal Drawing processes are presented as finely reflecting the social and relational aspect of human life: Defined as play, Reciprocal Drawing reveals its subversive, transformative and solidifying function, it renders possible learning new approaches to drawing. Finally, in this thesis Reciprocal Drawing is recognized as a postconsensual practice, where the engaged artists deliberately generate embodied conflict and co–explore its benefits without posing a threat to each other’s integrity. This is supported with the ethics derived from Jean–Luc Nancy’s and Emmanuel Levinas’ philosophies whose thinking is also employed to acknowledge Reciprocal Drawing as evoking loss, self–limitation and responsibility for the other

Sounding Materiality : Explorations In Resonant Practice

How might we explore material agency in sound arts practice to promote more ecological ways of knowing our world? Through practice-based inquiry what methodologies might emerge that can provide a framework for novel, open ways of exploring the relation between sound and materiality? Sounding Materiality is an account of arts research that works at the intra-face (Barad 2000) of theory and practice. Through the critical analysis and portrayal of three case-studies, the thesis contributes two novel sound practice techniques of ‘live composition’ and ‘locative sound’, which it is proposed enable a closer and more fruitful relationship between materiality and sound. Within the case-studies that underpin the thesis, the process of experimenting with an expanded source bond between sound, meaning, and materiality leads to diverse explorations with natural systems, haptic art, phonography, sonic spatialisation, and participatory practice. Three sound-based installations are the catalysts for these inquiries, including two place-specific works driven by natural processes, Variable 4 and Living Symphonies, and the haptic sound installation Tactus, conceived as a direct communicative artwork for the blind and visually impaired. These iterative works took place over the seven-year duration of this thesis (2010–2017) and have been exhibited publicly, with cross media documentation of their occurrences imbricated in this text. In their critical analysis two distinct contributions to sound practice emerge: ‘live composition’, a framework that uses sonification and generative techniques to drive real-time sound composition based on live source data, and ‘locative sound’ a technique that promotes the placing of sound in the reality of the world, drawing relationships of ‘synchresis’ (Chion 1994) between materiality and composed ‘sonic events’ (Cox 2015). A methodological framework of ‘resonant practice’ inspired by Schön’s ‘reflective practitioner’ (Schön 1987) emerges by reflection on these case-studies, portraying a praxis built on specific methodologies of ‘material thinking’ (Carter 2004), iteration, dialogic collaboration, and communication of knowing through an ‘artstext’. ‘Resonant practice’ takes an ‘acoustemological’ approach (Feld 1994), venturing that an arts research project rooted in sounding materiality promotes unique, ecological and vibrant ways of knowing through sound. Through a resonant practice artists working with sound can aim to propagate a ‘vibrant materialism’ (Bennett 2010), forwarding communicative, ecological and sustainable approaches to our sonic and material environment

Passages

The study of literature and culture is marked by various distinct understandings of passages – both as phenomena and critical concepts. These include the anthropological notion of rites of passage, the shopping arcades (Passagen) theorized by Walter Benjamin, the Middle Passage of the Atlantic slave trade, present-day forms of migration and resettlement, and understandings of translation and adaptation. Whether structural, semiotic, spatial/geographic, temporal, existential, societal or institutional, passages refer to processes of (status) change. They enable entrances and exits, arrivals and departures, while they also foster moments of liminality and suspension. They connect and thereby engender difference. This volume is an exploration of passages as contexts and processes within which liminal experiences and encounters are situated. It aims to foster a concept-based, interdisciplinary dialogue on how to approach and theorize such a term. Based on the premise that concepts travel through times, contexts and discursive settings, a conceptual approach to passages provides the authors of this volume with the analytical tools to (re-)focus their research questions and create a meaningful exchange across disciplinary, national and linguistic boundaries. Contributions from senior scholars and early-career researchers whose work focuses on areas such as cultural memory, performativity, space, media, (cultural) translation, ecocriticism, gender and race utilize specific understandings of passages and liminality, reflecting on their value and limits for their research

Steeped in place : encountering Scotland in paintings of the sea

Art is analysed and understood most often in terms of who (the artist was) and when (the work was created). Where (the creative act occurred) is seldom considered as significant. However, human understanding of the world depends on spatiality as well as temporality. This thesis investigates spatiality in paintings of Scotland’s sea and coast. The purpose of the research was threefold: firstly, to develop a conceptual framework of spatiality that could describe any painting; secondly to develop a suite of methods that situated painter, painting and geography; thirdly to apply the framework and methodology to the Scottish paintings of one artist, American Jon Schueler. Three spatial concepts for analysing the Scottishness of paintings of the sea were characterised: space, place and scape. Interviews with six contemporary painters revealed geography’s phenomenological underpinning. With paintings by Joan Eardley and William McTaggart, methods were developed to situate any artwork. These included well-proven visual analysis techniques, augmented by an original programme that extracted a colour palette from the painting’s image. With works by Janette Kerr and Will Maclean, methods were established to situate the artist. These included identifying which facets of place were incorporated into each painting, and how the artist’s discourse revealed a spatial understanding. Finally, McTaggart paintings were explored to situate their geography. This included using site visits to interpret a painting and compiling deep maps to compare and contrast the spatiality of paintings of Eastern Carnoustie with Western Machrihanish. The concepts and methodology were then employed to scrutinise the complete inventory of Jon Schueler’s extant works. By situating paintings, artist and the geography of Mallaig using the developed methodology, Schueler was demonstrated to be strongly influenced by spatiality. The unique configuration of a Scottish place illuminated and clarified what he perceived in nature and how he responded to it. The case study suggested that with a sense of place, a painting of the sea provides an encounter with Scotland