Familial Truth

Authors

Brandon McGahey, Southern Methodist UniversityFollow

Subject Area

Art

Abstract

In four of my most recent artworks—Two Figures, Boy, Canes, and Ranch Water Fountain—as well as a handful of earlier works, I address three key neologisms – familial truth, reprocessing, and manufactured brokenness—alongside themes of topology and the relationship between intimacy and monumentality. I break down and piece back together the stories and truth of my familial identity and history to reveal the importance of these ideas and works in relation to the early construction of my identity. These works represent recollections of my life and the strange and puzzling memories associated with my familial truth. They also serve as machines, structures, and instruments which guide, inform, and support my investigations into the “truth” and what was overlooked due to the haze of false narratives and the passage of time. By making old, desensitized memories and experiences more approachable and more malleable, I relive and re-experience key moments my childhood. This affords me greater control and agency over my complex familial history.

Degree Date

Spring 2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.F.A.

Department

Division of Art

Advisor

Brian Molanphy

Second Advisor

Tamara Johnson

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

McGahey, Brandon, "Familial Truth" (2020). Art Theses and Dissertations. 15.
https://scholar.smu.edu/art_etds/15