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MFA THESIS_OSU_MMORRIS 2024.pdf (4.9 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Elegance Is Refusal

Morris, Marcus Lamont
http://orcid.org/0009-0001-0494-694X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1714938386157519

Abstract Details

2024, Master of Fine Arts, Ohio State University, Art.
The work I presented for the thesis exhibition is a series of images that engage Beloved by Toni Morrison as a place to consider personal liberation. In this work, portraits of myself and Xavier Cruz, who plays my younger self, may also be read as Sethe(mother) and Beloved(child). The photographs, figures in landscape shot in Athens County, Ohio, as well as in studio, also exist as an offering to Black queer Appalachians, whom I share identity with and hope to reclaim space for. In the exhibition space, 11 images are displayed in the corridor. These images present a queer mother and daughter, family formed in the struggle of queerness, en route to The Clearing. “The Clearing,” an installation space within the show, is a room lined in black sequined fabric. This “clearing” does not intend to be a space of darkness or hiding, but a liberated space that sparkles in every corner. It may exist as a queer nightclub or the night sky. The Clearing presents a three panel projection of myself as Sethe dancing a mix of cakewalk and vogue. At nearly 6 minutes, my performance gives way for Xavier as the liberated Beloved. A Jospehine Baker who gyrates alone toward the future during the last 4 minutes. This work of Xavier and I in drags, illuminated, serve as a reminder that there are no images of Black queer men liberated in Appalachia in the 19th century. A period in which liberation was developing globally alongside photography and cinema. It is a space to be free. The written portion of this thesis is divided into sections that explore home, history, Black queer identity, childhood, Beloved by Morrison, queer mothering and concludes with a conversation with Xavier about this process and my own notes on the experience. I want to spotlight that the experience of this project is about my own desire to produce something that feels close to myself, to forgive myself.
Jared Thorne (Advisor)
Carmen Winant (Committee Member)
Dani ReStack (Committee Member)
41 p.
Fine Arts
Black Culture; Black Queer Culture; Black Appalachia; Appalachia; Queer Appalachia; Ohio; Athens County; Drag; Beloved; Toni Morrison;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Morris, M. L. (2024). Elegance Is Refusal [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1714938386157519

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Morris, Marcus. Elegance Is Refusal. 2024. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1714938386157519.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Morris, Marcus. "Elegance Is Refusal." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1714938386157519

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1714938386157519
60
© 2024, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Elegance Is Refusal by Marcus Lamont Morris is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12