Palimpsest
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Amanda Noel Gaebel (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- Ron Laboray
Abstract: Change is constant. We constantly change ourselves. This personal “overwriting”
is similar to a tradition called palimpsest, which is the incomplete erasure of text from
books to make room for new text and ideas on the same surface. Here, I have embraced
this as a metaphor and applied it to the palimpsest of self, or the building up of an
individual over time. We are seemingly born a tabula rasa, or blank slate. Over time we
are molded by our experiences and influenced by our environments. We make mistakes,
we change our tastes and as we grow we cover over and “rewrite” what no longer suits
us. However, there are always remnants of our old selves that persevere. A large
determining factor in my personal journey has been the geographical and cultural
influence of place, and it also influences each method of this work.
I have visually represented palimpsest of self through three different and visually
distinct methods. The first method is demonstrated with a constructed wall. The wall
piece, a literal stand in for the self, is an assemblage that implies erasure through overlay
and describes palimpsest of self through charting the impact of my personal geography
on building my individual palimpsest of self. For the second method, I drew on top of and
cut out sections from preexisting maps of places I have lived, redacting pertinent information to the point of abstraction. For the third method I manipulated old family
photographs with software adding imagery from more recent photographs. Viewers of
this work most likely have very similar family photos, have handled maps and have seen
layers of patterned wall coverings. These are all rather common experiences to share.
This allows them to imagine the work being about their personal palimpsest, or at least to
consider how we all exist as layers of imperfect and re-written drafts of ourselves.
I am interested in semiotics and in our reliance on signs to filter information to
make sense of our worlds. Specifically, I play on the expectation of the audience who are
looking for some explanation or purpose when confronted with imagery which is
traditionally understood through conventional data interpretation, in the case of the maps,
and which might imply a narrative, in the case of the family photos. When the sign
hierarchy is reconstructed the message is confused, and often completely obliterated. I
achieve all of this by interfering with textual and numerical signs, as well as facial
expressions as sign. I remove them, cross them out, cover them up, or transform them to
expose new relationships. This reduces the imagery to its formal base and allows the
viewer to participate aesthetically, while also pondering origins and references inherent
within common information.
Part of this research brings attention to the idea that by not completely obliterating
it from vision, but instead intentionally leaving behind a trace of that which has been
erased, what is missing becomes a focal point. Instead of eliminating it this has the
opposite effect. The ghostly remnant of the text that has not been meticulously rubbed out
is now what attracts attention. That which has been removed, but leaves behind a trace, implies importance and relevance. The act of erasure acts as a sign to point to that which
has been partially eliminated.
Palimpsest
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Created on 4/1/2014
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2014
- Subjects
- Identity (Philosophical concept) in art
- Self (Philosophy) in art