Getting Dressed and Being Dressed: A Constructed Autobiography of Identity

Author

Jana Jarosz, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

5-2019

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Liberal Studies

Advisor

Nancy K. Miller

Subject Categories

Art Practice | Fashion Design | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Interdisciplinary Arts and Media | Women's Studies

Keywords

automediality, memory, affect, gender, identity, clothing

Abstract

This written and visual capstone project examines how feminist theories surrounding the construction of a gendered subject are related and situational to the narrative of a lived body experience within a layered context of clothing. It opens up a discussion concerning the negotiated space between an individually-empowered, subject-in-process and the boundaries of social expectations outlining gender and cultural identities. The thesis introduces the concept of using an automediality framework to connect the material culture of clothing to still and motion imagery with text as a way to encapsulate and illustrate the fluid nature of becoming. It concludes by suggesting that there is space in the ever-shifting argument between the intangibility of theory and the daily practice of getting and being dressed to create new methods of writing feminist theory using a multi-dimensional autobiographical practice.

The practical components of the thesis are divided into three phases. The first phase consists of designing and constructing various articles of clothing I wear and embed into my closet as an autobiographic archive of my self.

The second phase is a complex series of visual pieces and artifacts that are divided into five sub-categories: Theory in Practice - Maps, Moments of Being - Wearings, Fragments of Self - Video, What She Said - Citations, and Material Culture – Archive.[1] Each embraces the multi-dimensional nature of automediality. Photography, illustration, video, text, design, and digital collaging are all mediums used in the construction of the pieces.

The third phase consists of designing the disparate artifacts into a digital framework that is based on the conceptual idea and fluid structure of a creative notebook. Because the narrative within an autobiographic process is continuous, The Notebooks are an evolving digital work-in-progress space that documents the thinking, designing, and making that happens in pursuit of solving the overlapping creative challenges between theory and practice.

KEYWORDS: autobiography & automediality, memory, affect, gender, age, identity, becoming, clothing

[1] Click and scroll on the hyperlinks in the abstract’s text to explore all five subcategories housing the different pieces and artifacts.

Comments

Online component: https://www.janajarosz.com/notebooks

Recommended Citation

Jarosz, Jana, "Getting Dressed and Being Dressed: A Constructed Autobiography of Identity" (2019). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3222