Bloom
Author: Antonia Boyle
Bloom
Antonia Boyle
29 April 2019
Boyle, A. R. (2019). Bloom. (An abstract for a dissertation in partial fulfilment of the Master of Fine Arts at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Abstract
Bloom details a personal journey of loss and the growth that came after it. It explores ideas such as the Abject, and those related to Embodied Geographies, Auto-ethnography, Trauma Theory, Ecology, the Rhizome, as well as in a text by Pravu Mazumdar titled Preferring Not to Die. Through these ideas the reader hopefully comes to view the wider relevance of connecting biographical experiences with ideas in order to understand a state of being that has transformed through loss and growth.
Detailing the processes and different materials used throughout the physical jewellery work of Bloom allows the reader to understand the evolution of Antonia Boyle’s master’s project and its different iterations over a period of time.
A community of practice features Lucie Marjerus, Otto Kunzli, Naomi Filmer, Pierre Degen, Majorie Schick, Christoph Zellweger, Biojewellery, Hanna Hedman, Dalya Lutwak, Diana Scherer, Lauren Simeoni and Melinda Young, and Vicki Mason. Their work provides a context within which related ideas are explored via a multitude of materials.
The dissertation rounds off by detailing the importance of documentation of previous iterations of Bloom and the choice of gallery and proposed exhibition plans.
Bloom is a story of the evolution of life and how to embrace loss as a positive transitional stage. Bloom is a story of life and its cycle, a story which could be relevant to all as we all face loss of some kind or another. Bloom is a state of being which is embraced wholeheartedly by the author and this dissertation details the physical and mental processes of grief and post-traumatic growth that led to it.
Keywords: bloom, jewellery, grief, New Zealand native flowers, growth after loss
This research was supervised by Leoni Schmidt and Johanna Zellmer.
License
This abstract is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence CC BY-NC 4.0 International. The thesis is not publicly available online. A bound hard copy is available to borrow for research purposes from the Robertson Library, University of Otago.
