Archive
Barker, Cam
2020
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Intimacy comes from the Latin root intimus, which is
loosely defined as “closeness.” Closeness is commonly understood as
emotional connection, which has traditionally been represented through corporeal bonds.
Throughout history, however, separated groups of people have found ways to connect
beyond the body, exemplifying acts of allyship. Archive explores how closeness can exist
between people ... read moreseparated by social hierarchies and considers the ways in which intimacy
is embodied in physical forms beyond the corporeal. A forged passport, a scrapbook
photo, a cardboard protest sign, a condom, all objects that exist as individual points
in a network of proximity that understands intimacy as transcending the body. The work
reimagines allyship as a practice and not a title, shifting the subversive power away
from individual actors to the act itself. In researching a variety of periods in history
with extreme divisions based on sexuality, gender, race, and other human
characteristics, I discovered acts of allyship rejecting social and political control.
Archive focuses on documentation created through these acts and allows the viewer to
contemplate both what allyship is and how it is represented. The ritual act of
metal-point drawing represents my own rumination on these concepts. Copying in itself is
a forgery, creating an object that places the original documents in a new state of
physical permanence. The rendered documents trace a human connection preserved in
artifact—a distinct physical embodiment of intimacy. The act of drawing, in turn,
commemorates and continues the conversation begun by contributions to a common
good.
MFA Thesis 2020read less - ID:
- cr56nf60n
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
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