ORCID

4520245

Keywords

southern gothic, american south, family dynamics, family, art, art as research

Abstract

“COME AND SEE: Exploring Abject Theory Through a Southern Gothic Family Portrait” examines the artist’s complex familial upbringing through the visual and narrative traditions of Southern Gothic art. Drawing upon abject theory and the cultural references of folk horror and Southern Gothicism, this thesis positions the family portrait where intimacy, trauma, and cultural inheritance collide. The project argues that direct confrontation with abjection can foster recognition, shared experience, and the possibility of collective healing. Grounded in practice-based research, this work functions as a critical and creative response to familial strain shaped by scarcity, social oppression, and emotional precarity. Through a multidisciplinary installation incorporating painting, printmaking, and video, the project employs horror conventions such as atmosphere, suspense, and embodied unease to render fractured emotional bonds. By activating discomfort and vulnerability within the viewer, the work invites an encounter with pain, memory, and resilience, reframing the Southern Gothic family portrait as both an archive of damage and a space for potential repair.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Jason Burrell

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

School of Visual Arts and Design

Format

PDF

Document Type

Thesis

Identifier

DP0053123

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