Uncanny urges : the familiar made strange : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

My research is centred on examinations of the uncanny. I am interested in strategies of the uncanny and the fetish, both Surrealist strategies and how these strategies create psychologically compelling images and objects. I perceive the uncanny in my work as the familiar made strange through eccentric juxtapositions of every day materials, objects and images. Through a diverse range of artists such as Pat Brassington, Sarah Lucas, Louise Bourgeois and Hans Bellmar I have explored key strategies of the uncanny to locate my own practice. I also draw theoretically from the works of Sigmund Freud, Nicholas Royle, Julia Kristeva and W.D. Winnicott. Methods of play are utilised to examine the possibility of an uncanny aesthetic through a process of bricolage whereby photographs and sculptural forms are constructed from various everyday materials available or on hand. Through this method I investigate how photographs and sculpture can operate as uncanny or fetishistic stand-ins for the body, which is always absent although a primary referent for my work.