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Unbound: An Origin Story

In Unbound, I embark on a semi-autobiographical quest, through which I reflect on the subject of a ‘myth of origin'. I rely on the two foundational yet competing epistemes that have been shaping my understanding of the concept throughout my life: On one end, the dogmatic Abrahamic mythology with whi...

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Main Author: Moshayov, Guy
Other Authors: Huigen-Conradie, Stephane
Format: Thesis
Language:Eng
Published: Michaelis School of Fine Art 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Moshayov, Guy
author2 Huigen-Conradie, Stephane
author_browse Huigen-Conradie, Stephane
Moshayov, Guy
author_facet Huigen-Conradie, Stephane
Moshayov, Guy
author_sort Moshayov, Guy
collection Thesis
description In Unbound, I embark on a semi-autobiographical quest, through which I reflect on the subject of a ‘myth of origin'. I rely on the two foundational yet competing epistemes that have been shaping my understanding of the concept throughout my life: On one end, the dogmatic Abrahamic mythology with which I was raised as an Israeli Jew; On the opposing end, Darwin's theory of evolution, as laid out in On The Origin of Species, which gradually came to replace many of my childhood's traditional narratives. In a body of work comprising a graphic novel and a series of large-scale oil paintings, the Darwinian and Abrahamic stories clash, bend, and blend. Unbound is the practice of reflexive doubt. While this project exists in an academic sphere, I refrain from calling it ‘research' in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, I choose to frame my academic practice as ‘artistic inquiry', for it is aimed at asking critical questions, rather than providing definitive answers. For this end, I generate a lexicon of visual iconography, a strategy which, in the words of art scholar Daniel Morris, enables the work to live between ‘public history and private myth'. I draw from an array of influential Jewish artists who have utilized this strategy effectively, among which are Philip Guston, William Kentridge, Dana Schutz, Will Eisner, and Art Spiegelman. According to Morris, relating to public history through the use of a private lexicon provides the work a germinative property which enables it to outlive the time in which it was created. Unbound aims to obtain this very same effect.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language Eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:32.198Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Michaelis School of Fine Art
publisherStr Michaelis School of Fine Art
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41166 Unbound: An Origin Story Moshayov, Guy Huigen-Conradie, Stephane Mackenny V Fine Art In Unbound, I embark on a semi-autobiographical quest, through which I reflect on the subject of a ‘myth of origin'. I rely on the two foundational yet competing epistemes that have been shaping my understanding of the concept throughout my life: On one end, the dogmatic Abrahamic mythology with which I was raised as an Israeli Jew; On the opposing end, Darwin's theory of evolution, as laid out in On The Origin of Species, which gradually came to replace many of my childhood's traditional narratives. In a body of work comprising a graphic novel and a series of large-scale oil paintings, the Darwinian and Abrahamic stories clash, bend, and blend. Unbound is the practice of reflexive doubt. While this project exists in an academic sphere, I refrain from calling it ‘research' in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, I choose to frame my academic practice as ‘artistic inquiry', for it is aimed at asking critical questions, rather than providing definitive answers. For this end, I generate a lexicon of visual iconography, a strategy which, in the words of art scholar Daniel Morris, enables the work to live between ‘public history and private myth'. I draw from an array of influential Jewish artists who have utilized this strategy effectively, among which are Philip Guston, William Kentridge, Dana Schutz, Will Eisner, and Art Spiegelman. According to Morris, relating to public history through the use of a private lexicon provides the work a germinative property which enables it to outlive the time in which it was created. Unbound aims to obtain this very same effect. 2025-03-13T11:18:12Z 2025-03-13T11:18:12Z 2024 2025-03-13T11:11:57Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41166 Eng application/pdf Michaelis School of Fine Art Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Fine Art
Moshayov, Guy
Unbound: An Origin Story
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Unbound: An Origin Story
title_full Unbound: An Origin Story
title_fullStr Unbound: An Origin Story
title_full_unstemmed Unbound: An Origin Story
title_short Unbound: An Origin Story
title_sort unbound an origin story
topic Fine Art
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41166
work_keys_str_mv AT moshayovguy unboundanoriginstory