Identity and Other Untruths:

Harmonizing Authorship with the Artifice of Design

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My MFA thesis comprised written and visual major components, including a book presenting this content. The primary written component was “The Division Bell," a theoretical essay exploring how the paradigm of authorship intrinsic to creative fields can be contextualized within design, a field from which it is generally absent — this despite being a primary driving force in those other creative disciplines, all of which are antecedent to design. A short film intended as an application of the ideas in my essay served as the major visual component. I also generated poetry in tandem with the essay and short film, allowing themes from my research and creative process to influence my writing. To complete this dialogue between the critical and the creative, I sourced the film’s text — one of its essential visual-communicative elements — from my poem, “Annunciation.”

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Read "The Division Bell" (excerpt, 4,000 words)​​

Read "The Division Bell"​​​ (complete essay, 8,700 words)

Read selected poetry.​​​

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View complete digital version of thesis book including documentation of program work, essay, and poetry.