Exposition

Distanciation and other: implications of distance in an ancestry DNA project (2023)

Mike Croft
open exposition

About this exposition

The exposition focuses on the question of ‘distanciation’ that at-once both distances and furthers one’s understanding of the self through being drawn into a work of text – here taken in a broader sense to include also the visual-material – and geographical and temporal distance. The latter interpretation of distance relates to the artistic research project that contextualises the article, which is in response to a call for drawings on the question of genetics and identity, hosted by i3S (Institute of Investigation and Innovation in Health, Porto University). As part of this author’s response, and as an example that may, through its reading, cause some expansion of one’s notion of self, the novel ‘The Inheritors’ by William Golding is discussed. From the point of view of genetic ancestry, Golding’s novel involves incongruous recognition between a family of Neanderthals and a larger group of Homo sapiens, and a more psychological use of the term ‘other’ for foreignness and one’s negotiation of such initial reaction by oneself. The conjoined question of distanciation and other is considered through reference to a large drawing of the author in progress as part of the ancestry project at the time of writing, and through theoretical reference to the work of Paul Ricoeur, Jacques Lacan and Bracha Ettinger that helps elaborate on distanciation, the psychically interpreted other, and a maternal matrixial idea of pre- and post-natal I and non-I of the self in contiguous relationship not only with psychoanalytical theory, but also with global ancestral mitochondrial DNA.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsdrawing, ancestry, distanciation' other, text, psychoanalytical theory, distanciation, distance, other
date16/08/2023
published28/11/2023
last modified28/11/2023
statuspublished
share statusprivate
affiliationi2ADS Research Institute in Art, Design and Society
copyrightMichael Croft
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
languageBritish English
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2255193/2255194
published ini2ADS - Research Institute in Art, Design and Society
portal issue0. Art, Design & Society


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2255245 relatives set lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255254 Cell drawing double coffee lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255267 pic new state 1 lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255269 pic detail lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255273 curtains skecth 2 lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255291 spine lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255332 Pic state 3 lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255340 Project video 1 Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255354 Video detail screenshot lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255363 spine detail Michael Croft All rights reserved
2255416 Finished pic lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2256628 Finished pic 1a lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2256630 finished pic 1b lo res Michael Croft All rights reserved
2404989 Out- of- Af- ri- ca- lo res copy Michael Croft All rights reserved
2405333 Out- of- Af- ri- ca-... Michael Croft All rights reserved
2405335 Out- of- Af- ri- ca-... Michael Croft All rights reserved

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