Introduction
I, like most human beings, am constantly crossing boundaries. Each crossing
throws me in deep torments and makes me come face to face with the abject. It
is only when I embrace the abject that I am then able to surface and understand
both the meaning and necessity of each passage.
In this dissertation I will explore the abject as it relates to art and motherhood
and therefore I will firstly address the general context for the term and its
appearance in contemporary theoretical writing. I willthen explain how my work
relates to abject theories, in particular a form I call the maternal abject.
Historically, Bataille calls abjection the inability to come to terms with the
imperative of excluding the repulsive. He places the abject at the heart of
our collective existence and tests the hypocrisy of a social order through its
treatment of the abject. Kristeva defines the abject as a state of crisis, of
self-disgust and disgust towards others. It is not so much the physically repulsive
but that which disturbs identity, social or theological systems. Kristeva’s
definition of the abject encompasses a wide range of ideas and situations which
interest me and which are relevant to my research. For this reason, I will focus
my research on her writing and the interpretive writings of Elizabeth Grosz.
Then, following a discussion of the above, I will explore the maternal abject.
This form of the abject is the one I am most interested in, and the one which
manifests itself in my artwork and indeed in the works of the artists who inspire
my work. My interest in the maternal abject is a search into all the processes
a woman undergoes when she becomes a mother and the subsequent mother/child
separation. The latter occurs when the child forms its own identity as separate
from the mother and realises that it has a body and an identity of its own.
My search for what binds me and separates me from my own children is the driving
force behind this particular art project.
From the above, I take on a political stand to bring to light the misconceptions
about the place of the mother in the history of art and the effect of the maternal
abject on some artists. Physical, semiotic and social phenomena take place when
the child separates from the mother and forms its own identity. I will highlight
how this separation manifests itself in relation to art and motherhood. These
issues, which have historically not been given much credence, fuel my art and
my need to give a visual representation of what it is to be a mother. From this
viewpoint, I will discuss representations of the mother in the work of contemporary
artists.
I will investigate the barriers and misconceptions, which a woman faces when
she enters motherhood. I will examine the way motherhood in society is relegated
to the domestic and how this renders her invisible. I am hoping that through
my art, I can reach a better understanding of this phenomenon and bring it to
the public attention.
Aesthetically, I am most interested in exploring my fascination with the abject
and its visual representation. Therefore, I will examine how other artists relate
to the abject and whether my obsession with the abject is a personal trajectory
or a well-rooted enquiry into the artistic process. As such, I will investigate
how some artists deal with the abject such as with the works of Francis Bacon,
Joel-Peter Witkin, Paul Quinn, Mona Hatoum, Hieronymus Bosch, Fiona Hall and
Gregory Crewdson, and those who deal with the maternal abject specifically;
artists such as Mary Kelly, Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, and Cindy Sherman.
©2001 Mireille Astore