‘Schizoid Spaces of
Defiance’ (Figure 1), the body of work that I will be discussing in this
thesis, is an (inconclusive) culmination of experiments conducted over the
duration of the MFA course, grappling with the intentionality of hybridity and
ambiguity in form and function. I have used the term “schizoid”[1] in order
to reference the psychological atmosphere I strive for when creating the
isolated spaces in my work, as well as the notion of subversiveness. Avery Gordon, author
of ‘Ghostly Matters’[2],
describes Bretineau’s[3]
history, which includes its current status as a psychiatric residential
treatment facility, as a place for the
enclosure of “disobedient social subjects and their ideas”. The duality of an
asylum being imposed versus self-imposed figures heavily in the spaces I
construct.
 |
| Figure 1. Assya Makawi. Mock up of ‘Schizoid Spaces of Defiance’, 2013 |
The artwork is executed in
a series of three boxes, housing small screens playing videos[4], as well
as objects, which interact with,
reflect, obscure and distort them. The
boxes are perforated with holes and
lenses through which the internal space can be scrutinized, and in turn the
viewer is faced with ambiguous, ghostly imagery. Headphones provide confused,
layered sound, blurring the distinctions of experiencing internal
and external realities.
Psychiatry: denoting or having a personality type characterized by emotional
aloofness and solitary habits.
• informal (in
general use) resembling schizophrenia in having inconsistent or contradictory
elements; mad or crazy: it's a frenzied, schizoid place.
[2] Gordon examines how the haunting social
forces of the past, such as complex intersections of race, gender, and class,
control present life.
[3] In ‘Notes for the Bretinau Room of The
Workhouse—a Project by Ines Schaber and Avery Gordon’ by Avery Gordon in
collaboration with artist Ines Schaber, on ‘The Workhouse’ for Documenta 13,
2012
[4]
The videos
will be discussed individually in this essay
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