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1
Woods-Jack, Virginia. "The empty portrait : encounters with a photographer : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Fine Arts, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/963.
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The Empty Portrait forefronts a new experience of the portrait for all participants involved: the photographer, the subject, and the viewer. Breaking away from the camera, the materiality of the photograph, and the portrait as a locus of identity are central aspects of this new experience. As it challenges the relationship between photography and temporality, The Empty Portrait attempts to blur the boundary between the photographic and cinematic image, asking the viewer to look and contemplate further.
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Jacobson, Shelley. "Temporal landscapes : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/907.
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Temporal Landscapes is a research project concerned with culture-nature relations in the context of contemporary industrial land use in New Zealand; explored visually through the photographic representation and presentation of gold mining sites – former, current and prospective – in the Hauraki region. In the current period of industrial capitalism, featuring the mass exploitation of natural resources, nature is commonly thought of as subservient to humankind. This stance, with its origin in scientific ideology of the 17th Century, is interesting to consider in relation to contemporary notions of landscape, and the ‘ideal’ in nature. In New Zealand, a balance is being sought between interests of sustainability and conservation, and of industry and economy. This is not to say that industry opposes environmental safeguards; in contrast, sustainable management including the rehabilitation of land post-industrialisation is integral to modern mining practice in New Zealand. With this emphasis on controlled industrial progress, two key factors emerge. Firstly, this level of control implicates itself as a utopian vision, and secondly, industrialisation is advocated as a temporary situation, with industrial land as transitory, on the path to rehabilitation. The research question of Temporal Landscapes asks; in considering contemporary industrial land use in New Zealand within a utopian framework – focussing specifically on gold mining in the Hauraki Region – has our ideal in nature become that of a controlled, even post-industrial, landscape? The photographic representation of these sites offers a means to explore and express their visual temporality. With the expectation of industrial sites as fleeting and rehabilitated sites as static utopias, it would seem that this industrial process is a kind of contemporary ideal. Presented as a flickering projection piece, 23 Views. (Prospective gold mining site, Golden Valley, Hauraki, 2008 / Martha gold mine and Favona gold mine, Waihi, Hauraki, 2008), and a set of selectively lit prints, Untitled I. (Garden, pit rim walkway, Martha gold mine, Waihi, Hauraki, 2008), Untitled II. (View of pit, former Golden Cross gold mine, Waitekauri Valley, Hauraki, 2008), and Untitled III. (View of water treatment pond, former Golden Cross gold mine, Waitekauri Valley, Hauraki, 2008), they act as landscapes of partial comprehension.
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Hunkin, Mathew. "Drawing from experience : visual modality in historic narrative illustration : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Institute of Communication Design, College of Creative Arts, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1342.
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This research investigates critical methods for approaching aesthetic design decisions in illustration. As a method of communication illustration qualifies its subjects through aesthetic choices, or modalities. The qualifying nature of these modalities can affect communication in an image and this research seeks an explicit understanding of how this communication occurs. This practice-based research project employs two aesthetic extremes, line and tone, in the creation of four historic visual narratives designed to fill visual gaps in the history of 1 Commando Fiji Guerillas. Line and tone are tendered as a means of visually negotiating the informing records of the Fiji Commando experience, records characterised by both conflict and absence. Can these disparate, conflicting, yet necessary records of experience be visually acknowledged in an illustrated expansion of the Fiji Commando's visual history? This position serves as the point of departure for research. An understanding of the communicative properties of line and tone is followed by investigation into their relationship to the propositions they represent, with initial research suggesting that modalities reflect the social contexts from which they encode. This relationship implied a means to negotiate the historic records necessary in a contemporary visual articulation of the Fiji Commando experience through the strategic use of aesthetic modalities to acknowledge the nature of informing source material. This practice-based approach to research allowed the consolidation of both the possible and the probable in the creation of a new visual, historic text, while revealing analytical approaches to aesthetic choice.
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Ivory, Andrew John. "Street photography in the Google age : written component presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1309.
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The role and position of the documentary street photographer is examined in the context of other forms of contemporary visual survey, including Google Street View. The Street View methodology is critically examined and related to the methodologies of other visual artists, including street photographers Peter Black and Robert Frank. Comparisons are drawn between the methodological restrictions imposed by Street View and those imposed by the photographers in the course of their practice. The issue of authorship is discussed and the lack of specific authorship of Street View is related to its inability to augment the viewer's personal sense of space. Wainuiomata, a suburb of Hutt City in Wellington, New Zealand, is introduced as a location for the author's research into how documentary photography might operate. The author's own phenomenological history is considered, and it is proposed that Wainuiomata may act as a mirror which reflects a sense of place derived from personal history, triggered by the visual landscape. The author's installation work The 1 p.m. Project is discussed and contextualised as a response to the author's research findings.
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Caudwell, Catherine Barbara. "Failure for dummies : intersections in emotive objects, busy women and meaningful pursuits : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1268.
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This extended essay explores a historical investigation into the connections between women and machines, particularly focusing on the traditionally gendered processes of sewing, weaving and other processes deemed ‘handicrafts’ and how they parallel techniques in the evolution of the technologies we recognise today. Within this relationship, the nature of these acts to provide comfort is investigated and related to the practice of art making. This historical lineage is examined in the present day where digital and electronic technologies impact everyday life and cause new a brand of anxieties that require a fresh approach to healing and soothing. Through the analysis of this research my practical input and output are informed and result in the development of an installation of objects that examine the electronic object and how it can be imbued with or reflect these realities.
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Hansen, Lans. "Desirable impact : an exploration of how design for desirability can enhance a forecast snowboarding safety product." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1328.
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With origins in skateboard and surfing culture, snowboarding has grown to become a mainstream recreational and professional sport, officially recognized in the Olympic Games. This popularity can be attributed to several factors, including the sub-culture of rebellion and self-expression it embodies and the daring, dynamic aerial maneuvers and stunts often portrayed in the media. However, the sport also exposes participants to a well-documented injury pattern, with injuries rates typically twice as frequent as those seen in skiing. While a number of studies have shown existing snowboarding safety products reduce the risk of injury, these readily available products are not widely used among participants who view them as “uncool” and “unnecessary”. Exploring how affective features and attributes can improve the desirability of a forecast snowboarding personal protective equipment (PPE) product, this thesis proposes that a primary requirement for these products must be desirability - to make attractive, to create a positive impression, to strengthen ones identity and engender appreciation. Responding to these emotional needs, this thesis presents a proposal for a product designed to enhance user-experience, challenging the current philosophy of safety products and their ‘uncool’ perceptions.
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McGrath, Shane Michael. "Making as a tool of self-examination and search for meaning : sifting through remaining residue as the tide of faith ebbs away : an exegesis presented with exhibition as fulfilment of the requirements for thesis Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1311.
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At the commencement of this thesis I saw myself standing at the outer limits of my knowledge with my nose pressed against a wall of demarcation. This wall was built from my willingness to tolerate systems of control in silence and from my unwillingness to make my beliefs and personal convictions known. I set out at the start of this journey with two intentions. I want to raise my voice because I didn’t want to pretend about my faith anymore. And for the first time use my art practice as a mouthpiece to tell these truths.
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Korver, Ruth M. "In memory of cats : the camera and the ordinary moment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/956.
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In memory of cats: The camera and the ordinary moment looks at the way in which families use photographs to remember the past. Photography’s offer of memory is limited to a visual trace, so strategies of oral telling are examined to interrogate the way in which memories can be recovered from photographs. Martha Langford’s study of the similarities between structures in oral culture and the photograph album and Annette Kuhn’s strategies for reading family photographs in a broader historical context, are used to examine and recover memories from my own photographic archive. Using moving image to record those memories and then tell how that photographic evidence has shaped my present, is a process suggested by Linda Williams in her writing about how postmodern documentary can use the past to intervene in the present. Other documentary styles, performative documentary and the essay film, offer a structure for personal memories to be revisited and re-presented to public viewers. Offering a space for personal or specific memories to be understood or related to by a viewer is discussed by Lisa Saltzman, who looks at indexical forms other than the photograph, like casting and tracing. These ideas culminated in my video work, A Clowder of Cats, which explores the losses that have been a part of my history, through photographs of the cats my family has owned. The camera gives us a strategy to remember moments that may otherwise have been forgotten, and moving image provides a space for those ordinary moments to be bought back to the present.
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Trevelyan, Peter Ross. "Formal confusion: virtuality and utopian space : an exegesis presented with exhibition as fulfillment of the requirements for thesis, Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/867.
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This exegesis details an investigation into the history and evolution of certain technologies, (binary coding, Platonic cosmology, and the linear perspective system) and the extent to which these technologies have distorted or appropriated our perceptions of reality. Special attention is paid to logical inconsistencies in apparently logical systems. The investigation focuses on the purportedly utopian applications of these technologies and the discrepancies that inevitably occurred whenever these ordered systems confronted the chaotic ‘real’ world. Information gleaned from this research then informs an analysis of methods for incorporating these concepts into the author’s installation practice. An explication of recent drawing practice and its reconciliation with installation work will account for and inform a recounting of practical experimentation dealing with form and materials.
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Hudson, Sarah Peti Sian. "Other identities : portrayals from the past and what remains in the present : an extended essay presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the post-graduate degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1310.
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How can the reintroduction of colonial depictions of Maori women in early twentieth century postcards engage a modern audience in a dialogue concerning the aestheticisation of Maori women, both past and present? Drawing on questions incited by the visual representation of my own family, the constructs of photographic depictions of Maori women in early 1900’s postcards will be examined. The correlation between the past and present will be the focus of this essay as the research considers whether the romantic, ancient ideals imposed onto Maori women by male colonialist photographers are still apparent in the present.
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Day, Catherine. "Being storied; a lived experience in time : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/957.
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Being storied; a lived experience of time discusses selected aspects of the research and studio practice undertaken in the course of the year 2008. Central to the process has been attending to the mundane acts of everyday life in the rural environment in which I live. It discusses actions such as walking, listening, collecting and documenting as well as experiments with a waste material, used baling plastic that is installed in various ways into the landscape. Parallel to this are investigations with sound and text, which have drawn on my varied musical background. There is an exploration of time - the idea of durée, human experience of time, quality of attention through intense focus, and memory as it accumulates over time. Art of the everyday has also been a key area of research. Life changing events have occurred during the course of the year. The death of parents has substantially influenced the work. The practice described is multi-faceted, involving the use of text, sound, photography and film.
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Jahnke, Robert Hans George. "He tataitanga ahua toi : the house that Riwai built, a continuum of Māori art." Massey University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/984.
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Prior to the 1950s, visual culture within tribal environments could be separated into customary and non-customary. In the early 19th century, customary visual culture maintained visual correspondence with prior painted and carved models of the pre-contact period. In the latter part of the 19th century, non-customary painted and carved imagery inspired by European naturalism informed tribal visual culture. This accommodation of European imagery and practice was trans-cultural in its translation to tribal environments. In the 1960s, an innovative trans-customary art form evolved outside tribal environments, fusing customary visual culture and modernism. This trans-customary art form, which maintained visual empathy with customary form of the 19th century, was introduced into the tribal environment, initially, in a painted mural in 1973, and subsequently in a multimedia mural in 1975. In 1989 and 1990, this trans-customary Maori art practice informed the art of the Taharora Project at Mihikoinga marae in Ohineakai. In this Project, the 1970s transcustomary Maori art precedents were extended with non-customary form and practice. The thesis employs tataitanga kaupapa toi as a paradigm for Maori cultural relativity and relevance en-framing form, content and genealogy. Annexed to this paradigm are a range of methods: a tataitanga reo method for interpreting Maori language texts; a tataitanga korero method, conjoining a kaupapa Maori and an iconographic approach, for interpreting meaning in tribal visual culture, and a tataitanga whakairo method, incorporating stylistic analysis as formal sequence, semiology and intrinsic perception, for analysing a continuum of stylistic development from the Rawheoro School of carving to the Taharora Project. The Taharora Project constitutes the case study where tribal visual culture and contemporary art within tribal environments are contextualised in a trans-cultural continuum. The critical question that underpins this thesis is how do form, content and genealogy contribute to art that resonates with Maori? The thesis concludes that trans-cultural practice in contemporary art can resonate with Maori if the art maintains visual correspondence or visual empathy with customary tribal form. In their absence, cultural resonance can be achieved through a grounding of the content, informing the art, in a paradigm of Maori cultural relativity and relevance, a tataitanga kaupapa toi. The genealogy of the artist is a further determinant for resonance.
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Neale, Wendy. "An embarrassment of riches : rekindling desire for obsolete furniture : a exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1401.
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This exegesis tells the story of my Master of Design project, Embarrassment of Riches. During this project I have gleaned obsolete furniture pieces and operated on them to present new possibilities. This text discusses the body of work I have created in the context of three main ideas: the use of gleaning, intervention and the role played by memory in rekindling desire. I have focussed on making in a heuristic, research-through-design practice, testing ideas through making/reflecting and then developing my ideas further in new pieces. Combining this actionresearch method with bricolage has enabled me to critically self-reflect on my practice. Through this I have discovered that I can continue to design and create objects in an age of overproduction and consumption. With ecological considerations in mind I can make obsolete objects desirable (again) by encouraging people to feel intimate with them. I intervene in the objects’ interstices to suggest histories that kindle engagement and attachment. The interstice has been a rich source of inspiration, not only as site of intervention, but as site where experimentation occurs, a process by which objects are found and a space where new genres develop.
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Ellis, Meighan. "Behold, be still : MFA thesis presented to the Faculty of Fine Arts, CoCA, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/883.
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behold, be still illuminates my predilection, that of a portrait photographer, which is driven by a fascination with viewing and collecting the ‘other’, the male, now extending into this suite of still moving portraits. Through this act and in my art practice, I uncover the vulnerabilities, both for myself and for my subjects, as they are offered for scrutiny on screen to become ‘public’, unlike their previous position in my photographic archive, which is private. I reveal for the first time my pathology in the drive to collect surrogates and stand-ins, to console the loss and give solace for the absence of one- revealing a latent scopophilia. Photography histories, specifically portraiture, and the moving image are discussed, focusing on the binaries of the medium/s, their reflective and reflexive qualities, and their inherent ability to reveal and conceal. My visual inquiry is an expansion to experiencing the portrait by presenting the sitters as close to ‘themselves’ via the medium of high definition video portraits. I expel the implications of women looking at men, and review the work of both significant and historical feminine influences and contemporary women artists positioned and working in this territory and who employ both film and photography. I highlight Victorian women and the melancholic age, where photography is deeply embedded, tracing the origins and lineage to my current work. I seek to define and locate the notion of a beautiful masculine, investigating what it is to view, receive, and collect between the axis of photography and video via the intimate exchange and operatives of my gendered and privileged gaze. The success is determined by the tension between these two machines and resulting portraits, as the act in sitting for a portrait with the technology of today, renders a more ‘accurate’ portrayal. From this the moving portrait completes the desire and an opportunity to obtain and possess the beloved after their absence. Crucial issues become apparent as I examine the imprint of the real in the photograph, the camera as a surrogate for myself, and the passive yet consensual subject.
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Little, Charlotte. "Timely/timeless : the new bespoke : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1348.
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Mass-production and consumption is causing mountains of waste, overwhelming our fragile world. Since the fast fashion industry is one of the major contributors of waste, it is vital we change the way we produce, consume and market clothing in order to address concerns such as global warming. We need to consider how we can make clothing within a closed cycle to minimise waste. The garments should either be biodegradable and become nutrients for the earth, or be able to go back into the technological cycle, i.e. to be stripped of components and reused, or else up-cycled with zero waste; a cradle-to-cradle life cycle (McDonough & Braungart, 2002). This project explores how a more sustainable relationship can be created between the designer, consumer and their community, in an attempt to slow the fashion industry down. Drawing upon sustainability theories I apply a new system of design, production and consumption that fosters relationships and active participation in the garment manufacturing process, as well as making clothing that is tailored for an individual’s lifestyle. In this project I have created bespoke clothing items for and with three people. The clothes are conceived as treasures that my clients can keep forever. Instead of simply being fashionable and of the time, the New Bespoke clothing is both timely and timeless. Through a series of consultations I develop an understanding of my clients personality and lifestyle, and through photographic explorations I develop a silhouette from their current wardrobe from which to design the garments. The transparency of this production system is aimed to educate my clients about environmental issues in the fashion industry, and to change their perception of the value of clothing.
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Nishioka, Mizuho. "Metadata_photography and the construction of meaning : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Fine Arts to Massey University, College of Creative Arts, School of Fine Arts, Wellington, New Zealand." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1341.
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Photographic technology is increasingly respondent to a desire for the production and consumption of information. The current age of photography not only possesses the ability to capture the image, but also to capture photographic metadata as supplemental information. Engaging in the premise that the photographic image exists as an incomplete medium to the transfer of information, this research identifies the acquisition of data as a means to resolve interpretation and quantify the photographic image. Inhabiting a complex territory within this structure, the photographic image manifests multiplicity and operates as source, production, and capture of information. This work challenges the perceptions of how to engage with the dialogues created between the photographic image, and the externally appended metadata.
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Ting, Michael Arthur. "Art and disssensus : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Art at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1324.
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For a contemporary art practice, what does it mean to resist? This essay will discuss the idea of resistance in the present day using the work of Karl Marx as the key starting point. If he is foundational to the understanding of capitalism, then later philosophers such as Frederic Jameson and Jacques Ranciere have added considerably to the relevance of Marx, and added their own critical engagement with the art world. Ranciere advocates dissensus, which he sees as being counter to the conformity that liberalism and concensus bring. Political philosopher Chantal Mouffe also advocates dissensus, replacing antagonism with the idea of agonism. There is disagreement but as in sport both parties recognize the legitimacy of their opponent. This is why identity is so important to democracy, for without difference there is no real choice, and so the nature of identity and the subject become crucial factors in conceiving of a way to resist, and a way of being as an artist.
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Lake, John. "Documentary photography and the fantasy of the real : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/884.
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This thesis explores the epistemological shift in my photographic practice from an ethnographic position to that of surrealist documentary. In charting this shift I have consider the use of documentary photography by the historical Surrealist movement ,and, the synthesis of surrealism and ethnography found in the English group Mass- Observation. The photograph’s oscillation between indexical record and mystical emanation forms a key position in understanding these two groups belief in the found images ability to describe a repressed reality located in the mass unconscious. Drawing on the Lacanian model of the Real used by Slavoj Zizek as a tool of cultural critique I suggest a new framework for a surrealist documentary practice. In bringing the methodology of the early Surrealists into a contemporary context I consider the position of suburbia as a new terrain vague in relationship to the fantasy of the Real.
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Park, Hana. "In the beginning : a book arts exploration of the creation account in Genesis : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for a degree of Masters in Design at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1280.
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This research project will explore Book Arts through the book of Genesis, focusing on the first seven days of creation. Particular attention will be paid to the interactive multi-sensual aspects of the book as object and to adding life and meaning to the reading experience. This exploration of Book Arts through Genesis will result in the development of a form of book that encourages engagement in both physical and psychological interactions to find new ways of reading – particularly scriptural texts – influencing spiritual growth and personal relationships. Particularly within, but not limited to, a Christian context. This project seeks to turn the book into a viable organism in our lives. The book itself will engage viewers through layers of sensory experience and nuanced psychological interaction.
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Samsell, Molly. "Camera and image : mediator and interface : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1020.
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How can art, specifically photography, illustrate the limitations of vision? What do those limits reveal about perception and knowing? To explore these questions two distinct mechanisms need to be discussed in relation to creative practice, Paul Virilio’s augmenting lens that forever changes the photographer’s perception and the image acting as an object for both Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s embodied experience and Jean Baudrillard’s simulacrum. The photographic image becomes an index by exposing the relationship between photographer and image. The camera is a tool, to Virilio a prosthetic eye, which immediately affects the photographer’s perception of her environment. The phenomenal world is the one that is photographed, a subjective experience. The tension between surface and reality, image and object, removes the photographic experience from an experience of the real. The making of the image closely parallels the act of viewing the image. A dual experience emerges from the photograph, the creation of the image and the viewer’s act of reading, inferring. An image, as an index, is open to multiple interpretations, placing equal weight on each participant, viewer, and creator, so that there is no hierarchy of interpretation, experience, or meaning. In this thesis these questions are explored in relation to a creative practice embedding theory with process and outcome.
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Harvey, Amber. "On making the immeasurable measurable : a search for spirituality in painting practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1019.
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Sitchbury, Douglas. "Economies of Tragedy." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1518.
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This project investigates the formulation of tragedy over time, its traits and its uses. Particular emphasis is placed on the way in which tragedy becomes symbolized and then used as a tool within Public Relations. Public Relations, as defined within this project, is the process of forming arbitrary associations between an object, narrative, person or idea and another object, narrative, person or idea. Various examples are examined and re-presented through the use of the traditional medium of oil paints to remove them from their original context and function.
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Apthorp, Jane Frances. "The furniture tourist : escaping the habitue : an exegesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree of Masters of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/872.
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Kenneth Bayes describes two ways in which we move through space. The first as a ‘tourist’ and the second as the ‘habitué’. The tourist is an “exploratory through an unknown environment” (Porter, 1997, p. 44) - which is juxtaposed against the habitué, who is “the habitual through a known environment” (Porter, 1997, p. 44). Each concept is the other’s polar opposite. The habitué is bound by routine, while the tourist is active and engaging in their environment, discovering new possibilities and exciting alternatives. The tourist looks upon their environments with fresh eyes. They are open, receptive and able to imagine possibilities where forms in rooms bend, waver and swell. Imagining tells stories which provoke and expand our thoughts. It allows one to escape preconceptions about the nominal nature of objects and our relationship with them. This research explores these characters, the habitué and the tourist, in relation to furniture and its arrangement within the interior. It investigates how the habitué may over time become the tourist in their own familiar environment. I am the tourist within this research who activates drawing, making, writing and photography as productive processes of imagining exciting alternatives for furniture. Through my work I seek to trigger, for the habitué, their imagination by allowing them to enter into mine through photography, expanding what they originally perceived of furniture.
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Dunn, Janet. "ReFashion reDunn : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/711.
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This study arises out of the researcher’s experience in the fields of costume and fashion. It develops, through design practice and reflection, a design process for fashion wear made from post-consumer recycled materials. Theoretical analysis provides global, historical, philosophical and design contexts within which to develop an ethos for this variant form of fashion wear designated ReFashion. Differences in design process between conventional fashion and ReFashion are detailed to highlight the significance of provenance of materials in the light of a perceived need to slow down clothing production and consumption. This perception is informed by scientific predictions that failure to engage with urgently needed changes to the prevalent economic paradigm will result in planet earth reaching a tipping point with potentially disastrous results for its inhabitants. Fundamental to the ReFashion ethos is preparedness for a speculative post-apocalyptic future that might render the fashion system unable to operate as it currently does, necessitating a more self-sufficient approach to clothing needs, with an accompanying shift in perceptions of what is deemed fashionable. The theme Survivalist Fantasy provides a lens to bring conceptual and material aspects of the work into focus. Informed by sustainability, Survivalist Fantasy recontextualises a failure of sustainable initiatives on a global scale and their adaptation on a local scale specifically in the arena of clothing.
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Bourke, Kate. "Shared sensory experience : a design strategy for dissemination : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1636.
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This study explores the theory of emotional contagion and then offers insights as to how communication designers could practically apply aspects of this theory to a communication campaign. Schoenewolf (1990) describes emotional contagion as “a process in which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes” (p. 50). A significant aspect of this theory involves joint consumption. This suggests that an experience of an event differs when more than one person is involved. Ramanathan and McGill’s (2007) recent study suggests that a stronger positive or negative evaluation of a shared experience is achieved through the creation of emotional contagion. When considering this, an opportunity exists to establish recommendations for the design industry to employ in order to enhance an audience’s response. In order to be successful in constructing a pertinent strategy it is critical to consider the way in which people perceive experiences; central to this theme are the five senses. Research into the five senses which include sight, sound, smell, touch and taste, indicates the significant impact over an individuals’ emotions and decision making process. To date the human senses have been largely neglected within the design industry due to conventional use of mainstream media. Through using non-traditional media, participants could be connected on a more sensory level through means of interactive involvement. From a holistic perspective the overarching methodology will be that of research for design (Frayling, 1993, as cited in Downtown, 2003). The emphasis will therefore be on providing insights and ideas as to how the design industry could, through non-traditional media, embrace emotional contagion. Supporting methods will be a combination of the following: 1. Case studies. These will include an analysis of precedents 2. A self generated design campaign. The focus will be tourism. This has been chosen because of its experiential and shared nature.
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White, Patrick Valdimar. "Being local : a sense of place : an exegesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/702.
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Being Local; a sense of place - details a journey during which I explore the notion that one aspect of art is seen best as a local activity, with the artist exploring his/her sense of place. Reading of relevant texts, and research of the conceptual basis of the notion, resulted in written and visual works. The writing records selected aspects of my thinking, detailing arrivals and discoveries, the development of art objects. Ultimately the research suggests that a sense of place is unfinished business; an ongoing process, a constant part of any vernacular or local activity. ‘Place’ is a story to be told and retold, a relationship constantly being renewed. Specifically, the story told here is from my own past to arrival in the settlement of Gladstone where I live on a three acre farmlet. That farmlet is the particular site in which I have carried out work exploring my thesis during 2007. The idea that art works are intrinsically local, inherently determined by my relationship with the place where I work, is an important part of the story. The acting of creating, is one of many relationships entwined in stories without which there can be no place to have a sense of. Another is the sharing of food. I have combined both the making of objects, and the sharing of food, as relational activities expressing ‘know how’, an art project.
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Packer, Genevieve. "Double-dipping : crafting nostalgic resonance : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/716.
Full textAbstract:
This project contemplates where New Zealanders will turn to in the future for resonating, identity-based design, and explores two potential scenarios. The first scenario questions whether existing ‘classic’ motifs – currently enjoying pride of place on national identity T-shirts and accessories, and commonly used over the last century within the tourist souvenir industry – will still be relevant, and still resonate, if used in different ways. The second scenario questions whether a new round of more obscure, overlooked, ‘lower case’ and everyday domestic artefacts and experiences will resonate with New Zealanders. This project sets out to ‘craft nostalgic resonance’, through conceptual recycling from my own biography, in order to connect with viewers through personal recognition located within their own biography. It draws from experiences and artefacts specific and personal yet at the same time, inevitably, part of a larger collective story, in the creation of a new range of identity-based souvenirs for New Zealanders. The resulting body of work, and its successful public dissemination, proves that it is possible to craft nostalgic resonance through conceptual recycling, and that this approach could be extended to both a wider range of original artefacts and experiences, and a wider range of souvenir products in the future.
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Prescott, Sue. "A sense of fashion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/721.
Full textAbstract:
As an expressive language, fashion design has an innate capacity to engage a full gamut of sensorial responses. This research explores the contribution of synaesthesia to fashion design in an effort to highlight the positive aesthetic and intellectual impact of this integration. Such research advances my creative practice. The method of realising garments which address synaesthetic principles is an extension of personal interest in synaesthesia, driven from both an experiential perspective and a desire to gain a greater understanding into theories in relation to challenging the senses in a contemporary fashion world. If fashion includes novelty as a crucial and desirable aspect, and can be defined as an ever evolving and self rejuvenating art form, then the energy and frivolity of these components in association with multiple sensory stimuli and response will expose the consequence of the study through design-work. Recognition of the importance of sensory cross-overs in fashion design will reveal the quintessence of how humans position themselves and respond to a specific environment. If realisation of the senses is with regard to surroundings, and fashion becomes the surrounding which elicits multiple involuntary responses from stimuli, a conscious recognition has begun. Traditional theories on the organisation of sense modalities speculate that humans perceive their world with five senses, the most dominant generally being sight. The combined effect of these senses creates the environment in which we inhabit. The visual and tactile senses have long been the focus of the fashion product but, of all the senses, touch is most key to our species (Ackerman, 1990). Sound, taste and smell have been under-recognised as providers of ceaseless information about our environment. The investigation into the notion that fashion and other sensory systems are not separate entities assists with establishing the links between sensory integration and fashion design. The emergence of the synaesthetic paradigm has highlighted a unity between the senses rather than the traditional hierarchy of favouring the visual. The research on synaesthesia relative to fashion design occupies a parallel position to neurological theory and allows synaesthetic investigation to be a pivotal determining factor towards my outcome. I have engaged in critical self-reflection of my design process and production as a means of elucidating stimuli associated with multi-sensory perception.
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Oldfield, Christina. "Picturing home : home as represented in vernacular image making : written component presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1536.
Full textAbstract:
This project grew out of an interest in notions of ‘home’, what ‘home’ is and its relationship to the ‘house’ as a physical place of dwelling. Specifically, this project explores how the home is represented in vernacular image-making, such as the photographs in the family album and craft methods such as cross-stitch. This lead to an investigation into vernacular photography, collections and archives, and contemporary craft methods. An archive of photographs collected follows the text, as well as drawings and embroideries made during the project. The final work consists of a large-scale projection of a cross-stitch and the photograph it originated from.
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Pfeil, Claudia. "Blind insight : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1648.
Full textAbstract:
The loss of sight is usually associated with the loss of the visual outer world. Traditionally, total blindness has been defined by sighted people in a negative way. The stereotypical belief is that the totally blind inhabit a dark world in which mental images of the outer world no longer exist. However, gaining insight into an experience of blindness may help the sighted to understand more accurately what Michael Monbeck (1973) terms ‘the true meaning of blindness’. (Monbeck, 1973, p. 157) Blind Insight provides an insight into what is named ‘imagined blind seeing’ by exploring the systematic processes of sensing, selecting and perceiving. Through tracing and mapping two auditory experiences photographically, the resulting work, Blind Insight, seeks to give a visual voice to moments of perception and imagined images as described by the blind author and scholar John Hull who describes sound as equating with light: “This is my way of turning on the light. Sound is the equation to light. Rain has turned the light on.” (Hull, 2001, p. 10) Abstract black and white photography has been employed to convey a sensory experience and photo collage to make visible the dimensional complexity of imagined blind seeing. The design work argues for a fresh insight into the sensory and imagined world of the blind. By fostering a dialogue between the blind and the sighted, the research project aims at celebrating the many rich and diverse ways the senses, and in particular the sense of sound, are used in experiencing the phenomena of the physical world.
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Crowe, Vanessa. "The path of least resistance : decorative pattern as an analogue of dis/order in everyday life : an exegesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/853.
Full textAbstract:
Allowing decorative pattern to take flight is a theme that has preoccupied my art practice ever since becoming infected by Deleuze and Guattari’s writing, A Thousand Plateaus:Capitalism and Schizophrenia, while completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Textiles. It is evident as an underlying thread or feeling in my making processes and thinking. According to Deleuze and Guattari (1987), to think new thoughts involves ‘a wrenching of concepts away from their usual configurations, outside the systems in which they have a home and outside the structures of recognition that constrain thought to the already known’ (p276). In this project I have found myself continually challenged by the intent and consequences of ‘shaking things up’, as I believe this quote implies. A wrenching of concepts away from their usual configurations has come through drawing a comparison between the conceptual structure of decorative pattern and the orders and structures of everyday life. What has emerged is a synthesis of ideas which create a picture of the dis/order that is evident within decorative pattern and in everyday life. I have come to conclude that decorative pattern is passive aggressive. It occurs to me that I could have described decorative pattern in a more positive tone in terms of passive resistance. But, in my mind, this implies a heroic gesture of superseding dominant orders. In this project I consciously employ the term ‘passive aggressive’ as an analogy because it acknowledges human flaw as a pattern that is inherent in everyday life. It alludes to the actuality of a relation to order and subsequent disorder that is not heroic, but rather implies humanness and the everyday struggle. While my challenge has been to present a new way of thinking about decorative pattern, underlying this has been a questioning of the structures that define my practice itself. This is evident in the experimental works that I have produced. It has been an evolutionary process that has played out according to a rhythm of shattering and shoring up. I see the resolution of this exploration coming in two parts. One is as the sum of my experimental works and how these artworks inform each other and are read in relation to the text. The other comes through a final installation of work which employs the system for making that has subsequently evolved, moving according to ‘the path of least resistance’.
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Titheridge, Johnathon Daniel. "Motor memory : reworking the past : a thesis (or dissertation, etc.) presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1325.
Full textAbstract:
Taking my own personal history as a starting point this paper will look at how we inherit culture and in turn shape it through the stories and objects that drive its formation. This extends into how these objects proliferate within our culture and the way in which the passing of History impacts on the way we view them and as a consequence ourselves as individuals and as a group. Identity is then passed on through generations through the act of storytelling, and this process is integral to this research paper. This is also a personal journey, taking place in varying sites, from a rusting car hulk in a back yard in North Canterbury, to a University in Wellington and another rusted car, which has gone through a strange restoration. The Morris Minor has been embraced as a narcissistic object that I have chosen to double in order to explore my individual and wider national cultural history and identity. One of the key themes of this inherited identity is largely based around Nostalgia for an ideal past. This ideal is a fiction, a layering of intended futures as well as a selective past. This works in the same way as the modern artistic preoccupation with gothic histories, but instead of a positive ideal we have the creation of a basement of horrors that lurks beneath the surface. Be it positivist idealism or Gothic inversion, one way of focusing on the way these fictions differ markedly from the reality of the objects existence, is to show the artifice of the stories told by enhancing the components of the story that are already exaggerated, for the Morris Minor this means getting as far away from its existence as a rusting hulk in the backyard as possible. The longing for a past that may or may not exist, is less important as existing in reality but instead for what these fictions supply in their retelling. The concept of the Uncanny is integral to this retelling of memory, in that through a memories reanimation it can only approximate the original event leaving gaps for circumspection and invention. This retelling necessitates a reorientation in the relationship between the teller of the tale and the listener and between the viewer and the object viewed. The research culminates in the alteration of a Morris Minor to appear as one continuous surface. The intention of which is to engage with the differing versions of the objects past through taking an active part in its reconstruction as artwork with the aim of reassessment not only of my individual approach to the object but also the viewers.
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Lee, Kerry Ann. "Home made : picturing Chinese settlement in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/723.
Full textAbstract:
Since the first gold-seekers arrived in New Zealand in the 1860s, Chinese have been regarded as outsiders to discussions of national identity. Colonial representations of otherness have left Chinese longing to be recognised as established settlers. Fresh interpretations are much needed to align myth with the longstanding realities of settlement. The absence of a recognisable Chinatown in New Zealand has meant that many of the Chinese customs inherited from the first settlers are observed in private within the family home. This condition coupled with emerging research and exposure on the topic offers a chance to define Chinese spaces and author Chinese stories from within a local community. This research project interrogates the transformation of Cantonese settlers into Chinese New Zealanders through illustration design. By claiming the book as a space, unsung moments of settlement are made visible to challenge stereotypes and forge a new space for Chinese New Zealand stories. The process of collage is used to illustrate the complexities of constructing identity. Home Made is an alternative cultural history told through visual metaphor. Gold was responsible for first transforming the sojourner into the settler, the bowl is used to mediate tradition between home and enterprise in settlement, while the lantern illuminates and celebrates local Chinese spaces. Brought out from home kitchens and backrooms of family businesses, these artefacts represent a longstanding Chinese presence. Home Made activates these metaphors to structure an argument for the longevity and contemporary significance of Chinese settlement in New Zealand.
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Hodgkinson, Gray. "Visually representative web history browser : a thesis submitted to the College of Creative Arts, Massey University, New Zealand, as fulfilment for the degree Master of Design." 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/712.
Full textAbstract:
The familiar computer graphic user interface (GUI) makes extensive use of visually representative devices such as folders and files. These symbols help the user deal with computer data and operations that otherwise have little or no physical form. The computer’s underlying complexity is symbolised for the user, who is then able to manipulate the computer by interacting directly with the interface. The early development of computer interface design was largely the domain of software and hardware developers. Many sound principles of user interaction and testing were established and provided essential guidance for new generations of interface designers. As computer technology and its tools became more widely available, a broader range of designers began contributing, including those from product design and visual communication. This study is written from the point of view of a “visual designer” – a designer who began his career in graphic design and who has moved towards interface design out of curiosity and a desire to proffer a different attitude and approach to interface issues. The study therefore will demonstrate a design process that many visual designers will be able to identify with. The process includes research, analysis, methodical progression and artistic inspiration. The artistic inspiration in this case comes from the Constructivist artist El Lissitzky, and will illustrate the significant contribution that art can make to interface design. This art-influenced design process was presented at the 2005 Ed-Media World Conference on Educational Multimedia, (Montreal, 2005). The enthusiastic response and discussion provided encouragement to continue in this direction. In the following year another presentation, which included the working prototype, was presented as part of a keynote speaker presentation at the 2006 Siggraph Taipei Conference, National Chiao Tung University, Taipei. The specific task chosen to work with in this study is that of Web browser history. As a user browses the Web the computer records a list of visited websites. The first few generations of browsers presented this information as a simple list, but this approach incorporated many flaws and caused problems for users. More recent browsers provide more options, but significant issues remain. This study offers solutions to several of these problems. The resulting design prototype is named “isoBrowser”. It is the result of the alternative design process outlined above and offers alternative methods of visualising, organising and manipulating data. The prototype is not intended to be fully functional nor “live”. However, it is sufficiently operable so as to test interface interaction and user response. A fully functional version, operably and aesthetically complete, would be the subject of further development.
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Malcolm, Sabrina Barkley. "Informative ornament: ‘The machine’ : enhancing the communicative potential of colour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Illustration at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1465.
Full textAbstract:
Accompanying workbook not available in digital formatBoth empirical and anecdotal evidence indicates that visual communication1 design practices implemented by designers with full colour vision often disadvantage, and sometimes endanger, colour-blind people. The thesis The Machine postulates that colour-blind people – comprising approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females (Lewis et al., 1990) – are marginalized by such practices. It argues that this group could benefit from a design strategy that enhances the communicative potential and visibility of colour. The proposed strategy involves embedding pattern into potentially confusing colours such as red and green. The embedded pattern would function for colour-blind people as an additional clue to the identity of these colours. The thesis contends that while colour alone can be confusing for colour-blind people, patterned colour could offer a solution with a wide range of possible applications. The research aims of The Machine include: developing a system of patterned colour; creating a wordless picture book that demonstrates the effectiveness of the system; constructing a narrative around the condition of red-green colourblindness; and employing visual rhetoric2 to increase awareness of and sensitivity to colour-blindness among those with full colour vision. The design of the thesis is supported by research in a number of interrelated areas. These include the history of pattern post-1850, particularly in Western culture; precedents for patterned colour; and visual rhetoric in story-telling. The research also incorporates an analysis of the defining characteristics of ten late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century wordless picture books. The thesis is further supported by applied research into patterned colour and visual rhetoric. The Machine aims to benefit colour-blind people, a significant minority group whose visual needs are currently inadequately met. In addition, it proposes broadening the cultural role and significance of pattern. Moreover, by incorporating informative elements usually associated with pedagogic material, it aspires to extend the boundaries of the fantasy picture book genre. 1 Visual communication (n): communication that relies on vision (Wordnet, 2006). 2 Visual rhetoric: the use of visual techniques, such as the creation of visually ‘engaging’ characters, as a means of persuading a target audience