Date of Award
Fall 1-3-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art
First Advisor
A.K Burns
Academic Program Adviser
Carrie Moyer
Abstract
This thesis examines the experiences of immigration, identity, and language through the lens of diasporic memory and intergenerational storytelling. At its core lies Communion of Empty Mouths (2024), a multi-channel video installation exploring the physical, communal, and ephemeral dimensions of language development and loss. The work juxtaposes live animation, tactile materials like ceramics, and experimental soundscapes to delve into the ancestral and embodied nature of linguistic expression.
Anchored in Yiddish poet Celia Dropkin’s text My Hands and inspired by familial narratives, the thesis critiques hierarchical and gendered dimensions of language, focusing on Yiddish as a diasporic medium of resistance and reorientation. Bridging theoretical perspectives, including queer phenomenology and postcolonial linguistics, with intimate artistic practices, this project challenges societal norms of language and representation. By foregrounding unsocialized voices and creating spaces for embodied expression, The Farthest I Can Sense Time reclaims fragmented, diasporic histories, proposing storytelling as an act of linguistic and cultural reclamation.
Recommended Citation
Alhassid, Danielle, "The Farthest I Can Sense Time" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1257
