Liminal gestures : ritualising the wound through performance and lived experience

The thesis covers the evolution of my research from autobiographical drawing through to shamanistic performances. The development of the research has an organic structure, which highlights my growth from sculptor to performance artist. My practice outlines and the artists I research articulate what I see as the symbolic interrelationship between lived experience, subjectivity, reflexivity, liminality, performance process and artistic product. I see my style of performance relating to cathartic ritual as a form of social purgative and these actions are regarded as purifying and restorative. I focus on artists that embody the issues that I wanted to explore, namely, artworks that aid catharsis or transformation through transgressive, shamanistic or masochistic rituals. Following female criminality in newspapers, I consider the performative nature of the crimes and I embody deviant female personalities. The outcomes are liminal gestures that aim to combat unresolved emotional distress and purge violent impulses.