title: An-Arcadia: A Visual Representation of Cultural Hybridity as a Multidimensional Trialectic Space
Creators: name: Barstow, Clive
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Cultural Hybridity
subject: Trialectic Space
subject: An-Arcadia

description: Arcadia is an imaginary and socially constructed space in which pastoral harmony is played out in various creative guises. The classic Eurocentric interpretation of Arcadia is relatively static, and was formed on a mythological and monocultural vision that reflected a particular time and place, a golden age formed through nostalgia as a “longing for a home that no longer exists—or never existed” (Legg 2004, 100). The title of this research is An-Arcadia: A Visual Representation of Cultural Hybridity as a Multidimensional Trialectic Space, and therefore the notion of anarchy refers directly to the wordplay of the title An-Arcadia, or more commonly referred to as trouble in paradise. Prompted by this idea, this creative research investigates a timely reimagining of Australia’s hybridised identity using Homi Bhabha’s (1994) thirdspace theory as a point of departure. The research interprets and develops Henri Lefebvre’s (1991) cumulative trialectics as a more appropriate model that extends thirdspace theories of contestation into a triangulated framework that is positive and creative, accommodating the embodied ‘self’ as a changing state of being: one that is dependent on a more fluid interpretation of history, time, and place. Through reflexive praxis and artistic collaboration and production, this research explores a unique visual language to propose an imaginary space that creates new knowledge and the repositioning of cultural difference across cultural and language groups. As an experienced practice-led researcher using reflexive praxis as my methodology, I create a dialogic space based on my ongoing experiences of working with Aboriginal artists in Western Australia and, more recently, with Chinese artists in Mainland China. Besides that felt by migrant groups, the feeling of displacement brought about through cultural transformation is often manifested through the arts by contemporary urban Aboriginal people who do not fit Western ideals of Aboriginal art and who often find themselves alienated within their own country and culture (Bell 2003; Langton 2003). Within this Sino-Australian model, the issues surrounding displacement and cultural identity are examined through a more fluid interpretation of space, 5including the use of Disney characters and found objects as a way of introducing imaginary and nostalgic stimuli. The development of a new multidimensional model through studio enquiry extends our understanding of constructed histories by the use of images and materials, prompting experiential, sensory and imaginative responses from the audience that in turn promotes a questioning of the validity of current textual systems of understanding and knowledge transfer. The research concludes that the artworks made as a response to Henri Lefebvre’s cumulative trialectics have the ability to communicate complex ideas that avoid polarisation, offering a theoretical model of praxis that is adaptable for artists in particular who approach their research from an autoethnographical position. Through this, the research contributes to the ongoing dialectic regarding the representation of cultural hybridity in Australia and beyond.