Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between identity formation, emotional rupture, and social performance through the symbolic framework of the dining table to examine how everyday rituals shape and destabilize the self. Beginning with a personal history of crafting prosthetic ears at the request of the artist’s otologist father, the project emerges from an initial desire to heal others and confronts the emotional weight of restoration. As the work evolves, this act of repair becomes a catalyst for the artist’s own confrontation with psychological fragmentation, shifting the focus from medical mending to the deconstruction of selfhood. Drawing on theories of performativity and material culture, the paper then analyzes how the conceptual and studio research comes together in the culminating artwork “title of installation,” an installation using masks and multi-sensory materials to create a space of quiet psychological tension. Rather than offering resolution, the paper presents an elaborate consideration of the term reflection and offers it as a conceptual tool to help navigate ideas about expectation, concealment, and vulnerability in both public and private spheres.

Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Metals and Jewelry Design (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

American Crafts, School for

College

College of Art and Design

Advisor

Carlos Caballero-Perez

Advisor/Committee Member

AdvisorDavid schnuckel

Advisor/Committee Member

AssociateThesisAdvisorJoyce Hertzson

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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