McIlroy, Emily Catherine2016-03-092016-03-092011-12http://hdl.handle.net/10125/101509M.F.A. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2011.Includes bibliographical references.Between Two Waters explores the physical and psychological features of this disfigured territory--that of the bereaved. It seeks to simulate a world devoid of certitude, a place warped by the vanishing of innocence and frozen by the dissolution of narrative. In essence, it documents my sustained experience of a pervasive liminality, a constant and unceasing sense of being suspended between the outside world and my own subjectivity, between the relentless passage of time and my own broken temporality. This paper will discuss the ways in which the evolving life of my grief is both formally and conceptually registered in the works of Between Two Waters, and how their creation relates to the larger frameworks of trauma and contemporary art. It will examine how my encounters with the ocean, as well as the subsequent formulation of my process, have both reflected and regulated the intense pain of grief, while also providing an unexpected passage toward healing. Casting light on the ways in which the death of my twin has shaped my experience of being in the world, it will show how ongoing cycles of destruction and creation--this process of becoming--is both preserved and prevailingly present in the works of this exhibition.enggrievingThesis