Abstract

This thesis positions Rebecca Belmore's art making as a ritual space of concern for the socially constructed marginalized other. With processes that are as much personal and private as they are political and public, her art production reacts to societal injustices, and aims to expose transgressions and violations, in particular those involving women, the environment, and spirituality, in reference to her Aboriginal identity, thus linking considerations of race, class and gender. Her performances and installations construct a social sculpture, anchored in the lived body as site of experience, referring both to her own body and to the body politic. With the Manichæan Body as a model for negotiating conflicting dualisms that shape social structures, her works are aesthetic and at the same time ethical strategies for transformation and social change. Conflict and violence as unavoidable realities of personal and political space, can be mediated by opening sites for concern, participation, and engagement, on intra- and interpersonal levels. Belmore's art making connects her to other activist artists working in the field of socially responsive public art--and in particular Suzanne Lacy--who has addressed issues of social justice and the violation and marginalization of those who are different.