Threads of survival
Author: Megan Griffiths
Threads of survival
Megan Griffiths
28 February 2020
Griffiths, M. A. L. (2020). Threads of survival. (An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a Master of Fine Arts at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand)
Abstract
This dissertation comprises the written component of a research project undertaken by Megan Griffiths reflecting on chronic and unexpected health issues from her three-and-a-half-year struggle with pain associated with problems in her spine requiring decompression surgery.
The topics investigate historic and contemporary literature and art relating to the four chapters in this dissertation: pain, medication, addiction and withdrawal. The dissertation reveals a pharmacopeia investigating these four issues that Griffiths personally experienced as reflected in her textiles practice resulting in a public exhibition including four works directly related to the four written chapters: Six Days of Pain, Scripted, Fool’s Gold and Under my Skin.
Near the end of the project, Griffiths reflects – in a Coda – on the process of recovery and the therapeutic role played by making her experience public through the four artworks and the writing in this dissertation.
Key words: Pain; Medication; Addiction; Withdrawal; Oxycodone.
Megan Griffiths' primary supervisor was Leoni Schmidt.
License
This abstract is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence CC BY-NC 4.0 International. The thesis is not publicly available online. A bound hard copy is or will be available to borrow for research purposes from the Robertson Library, University of Otago.
