Research
Hybrid Dialogues Situational Strategies – visual culture in a postcolonial period
(extract from PhD Introduction by Jacky Puzey, copyright 2009)
‘My idea was that the process of actually physically piecing things together would lead people to act out, even in an unconscious way, certain things having to do with power, movement and the way places and positions are designated.’ Renée Green, quoted in (Zabunyan, 2005a)
‘Hybrid Dialogues, Situational Strategies’ is an intervention that uses practice-led research to explore notions of colonial legacy and multiculturalism as reflected via visual signifiers of identity and memory through collaborative and participative artworks using dress and performance.
As an artist I work with collective memories, personal stories, fashion/garment construction and postcolonial and multicultural realities. What has intrigued me and thereby demanded further exploration / interrogation through my practice has been the ambiguous and fluid spaces that can be created by artworks, exploring the contemporary legacies of histories and exchanges in relation to specific sites. Colonial legacies and multiculturalisms are explored through my practice as contested strategies in contested sites.
The use of familiar making processes, such as dress making, tailoring and textile, in conjunction with the contexts of their use, wearing and construction is seen as a key part of engaging with contested and accepted narratives through practical process and inhabiting of the spaces of construction of identity, cloth, culture and culture.
copyright J Puzey 2009. If you would like to discuss my research or cite my work please contact me via this website.
Hostess Umbrella, Shade 2007 photographer Ruth Jacobs