“Because there are innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding, we constantly use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define or fully comprehend.” - Jung, Man and His Symbols, p.21.
“The sign begins by repeating itself” - Jacques Derrida, quoted in Peggy Phelan, Mourning Sex, p. 8
I am interested in the use of symbols in the visual arts to convey meaning. This is the idea of an established connotation built up by repeated use, becoming a tradition, so that one “symbol” can stand for perhaps a relatively complex idea or number of ideas. This can allow in performance for increased understanding of the piece being performed and also enable a simpler or more minimalist set or setting. Symbols can also add extra layers of meaning to a performance, or alternatively propose new ideas and angles with which to look at an old piece.
As I have recently started working part-time in a florists, I began by thinking about focusing on the use of flowers in the performing arts as a symbol that can convey a great wealth of meanings. I have been investigating the Victorian practice of floriography in which flowers were used to send coded messages, allowing for otherwise secret information to become known - this could be an interesting area of investigation in terms of performance - i.e. the revealing of private information. An incredible number of meanings for particular flowers, some better known than others, arose and are documented in numerous books and websites. For example, sunflowers can signify haughtiness, and a string of ivy can denote fidelity.
I have now started to think about the wider context of garden imagery, in particular the significance of ‘The Garden of Eden’, as a communicator of grand narratives, from life to death and of course its numerous religious implications. I particularly admire the work of the artist Anya Gallaccio and have been looking at her ‘Because I could not stop’, 2002. This is abound with Edenic imagery, and I enjoy the way she harnesses the effect of the passing of time to the work itself, conveying ideas about death, decay and the cyclical nature of life.
I am beginning to investigate the plays of Chekov, as his works were rooted in the Russian pastoral tradition, thus communicating the aspirations and disappointments of modern day life, countryside v.s. the city, as seen in The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya. Shakespeare also regularly employed garden and plant imagery, most notably in the Henriad, and in his Richard II, to convey the state of England, and the world, as a whole.
I can of course also look at fairytales, and the use of the forest as a mythical setting where magical or surreal events take place. It is another world/space in time, and I am attracted to this play between the real and the unreal. G. Ronald Murphy’s The Owl, the raven, and the dove: The religious meaning of the Grimms’ Magic Fairy Tales, (2000) examines the Grimms’ tales from a Christian perspective and thus opens up a bigger, grander dimension to these familiar “children’s” stories.
As a History of Art Student, I spent a significant amount of time studying the art of the Soviets, 1917-1950, in particular, the way that Socialist Realists employed traditional, often religious, motifs to imply stability and a return to order, in a time of significant social and political upheaval. Do religious metaphors have a place in the 21st century? How can we use them in performance to convey ideas about the self and the world as we now know it?
“The sign begins by repeating itself” - Jacques Derrida, quoted in Peggy Phelan, Mourning Sex, p. 8
I am interested in the use of symbols in the visual arts to convey meaning. This is the idea of an established connotation built up by repeated use, becoming a tradition, so that one “symbol” can stand for perhaps a relatively complex idea or number of ideas. This can allow in performance for increased understanding of the piece being performed and also enable a simpler or more minimalist set or setting. Symbols can also add extra layers of meaning to a performance, or alternatively propose new ideas and angles with which to look at an old piece.
As I have recently started working part-time in a florists, I began by thinking about focusing on the use of flowers in the performing arts as a symbol that can convey a great wealth of meanings. I have been investigating the Victorian practice of floriography in which flowers were used to send coded messages, allowing for otherwise secret information to become known - this could be an interesting area of investigation in terms of performance - i.e. the revealing of private information. An incredible number of meanings for particular flowers, some better known than others, arose and are documented in numerous books and websites. For example, sunflowers can signify haughtiness, and a string of ivy can denote fidelity.
I have now started to think about the wider context of garden imagery, in particular the significance of ‘The Garden of Eden’, as a communicator of grand narratives, from life to death and of course its numerous religious implications. I particularly admire the work of the artist Anya Gallaccio and have been looking at her ‘Because I could not stop’, 2002. This is abound with Edenic imagery, and I enjoy the way she harnesses the effect of the passing of time to the work itself, conveying ideas about death, decay and the cyclical nature of life.
I am beginning to investigate the plays of Chekov, as his works were rooted in the Russian pastoral tradition, thus communicating the aspirations and disappointments of modern day life, countryside v.s. the city, as seen in The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya. Shakespeare also regularly employed garden and plant imagery, most notably in the Henriad, and in his Richard II, to convey the state of England, and the world, as a whole.
I can of course also look at fairytales, and the use of the forest as a mythical setting where magical or surreal events take place. It is another world/space in time, and I am attracted to this play between the real and the unreal. G. Ronald Murphy’s The Owl, the raven, and the dove: The religious meaning of the Grimms’ Magic Fairy Tales, (2000) examines the Grimms’ tales from a Christian perspective and thus opens up a bigger, grander dimension to these familiar “children’s” stories.
As a History of Art Student, I spent a significant amount of time studying the art of the Soviets, 1917-1950, in particular, the way that Socialist Realists employed traditional, often religious, motifs to imply stability and a return to order, in a time of significant social and political upheaval. Do religious metaphors have a place in the 21st century? How can we use them in performance to convey ideas about the self and the world as we now know it?
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