Visual communication in art

This inquiry will address some of the inequities that exist regarding women in the
visual arts and art history, and how that impacts art education practice. The influence of
popular visual culture on the construction of gender identity, and differences between the
sexes in areas of learning and creativity, will be considered. Teaching strategies
developed by educators, which lead towards greater gender equality in art education, will
also be discussed.
Finally. because my experiences as an art teacher and my current artwork have lead to
this gender related research. this discussion will include a brief autobiographical section,
a thorough description and analysis of my artwork, and my major artistic influences.

This thesis is a profoundly personal one. It examines the role of context in creation (authorship) and perception (reading an image) of representation. Born in Sri Lanka during the emergence of one the world's longest lasting civil wars, I never recognized my love and concern for the Island and its ancient history and culture until I traveled to America to pursue a higher education. Ever since, I have constantly found myself in situations where I am regarded as the 'other' or the 'outsider' ; I seem to not fit in completely in this country as well as in my own. In the US I am considered 'eastern' or 'exotic', whereas in my own country, I am considered 'westernized', no longer looked at as a typical Sri Lankan woman. This thesis examines and explores marginalization, orientalism, deconstruction theories, semiotic studies, dialect as well as attire, in the specific context of Graphic Design.

My thesis exhibition is comprised of approximately eleven large-scale portrait paintings done primarily in oil paint on canvas. This body of work investigates the ways the identity of both artist and subject can coexist in a portrait and evolved from my desire to combine portrait painting with writing as well as to develop methods of using paint to express a merging of myself with the individual depicted in the portrait. My creative research has focused on the traditional form of the portrait as a powerful form of representing an individual and how meaning can be expanded through scale, brushstroke, color, texture, composition and the many variables that portraiture deals with. I expanded on the traditional portrait painting by cataloguing my memories and thoughts along with the thoughts of the subject by painting under, into and over the subject in my own handwriting. My "hand" is visible both in the brushstroke and in the cursive writing, preserving my identity in a "readable" way both literally and through graphology, or handwriting analysis.