An ecology of images

: verbal performance and spectral violence

Abstract

Ecology of Images: verbal performance and spectral violence is a practice-based research project working with live performance, screen images and writing for performance. The central theoretical concerns that shape this project are: What is in an image? What is left out of an image? How can a writing for performance practice conjure what is not in the frame of an image? Through a theoretical inquiry into screen images, I posit that that which is left out of the frame, the ob skēnē (off-stage) of the image, is a spectral violence that haunts the bodies and landscapes in the frame. Drawing on my own professional practice as a performance artist working with experimental writing this project involves the development of a performance methodology that puts to work the performance model of spoken verbal imagery, projected screen images and a live audience to conjure the spectral violence of screen images. Through two practical performance experiments, I Went Out to Film the Storm (2019) and All These Glowing Girls Will Burn Your Green Lawns Up (2022) I have developed a performance methodology that creates what I am terming trans corporeal crossing figures. I am expanding here on Stacey Alaimo’s notion of trans corporeal connections between the human organism, sickness, toxins and industry to trace how industry and government policy are creating ecologies of violence (Alaimo, 2010). As I argue that screen images have ecologies of violence that are increasingly violent, groundless and spectral, the knowledge formulated in this thesis will contribute to the thinking of artists and theorists working with the spectral and image technology. Furthermore, I have developed a performance methodology that is useful for artist practitioners working with text as a means to refigure images.

Date of Award	12 Nov 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Roehampton
Sponsors	TECHNE AHRC Doctoral Training Programme
Supervisor	Yuwei Lin (Director of Studies), Joe Kelleher (Co-Supervisor) & Giulia Palladini (Co-Supervisor)