A room of one’s own : a multimedia diary

Abstract

Does the room have the ability to offer an introspective view of the occupant? Can a room or its objects elicit memory and experience? Can we use the motif of a room to question the human condition? The motivation to research such themes and ideas are all centred around the stimulating experience of reading most of Virginia Woolf’s works, which have been consciously or subconsciously the main driving force of the narratives within my dissertation. Her work perfectly derives the unity between the objects and humans, both reflecting one another. This dissertation will tackle this idea of a room and domesticity, to gain a better and deeper understanding of the self. I will start off my research by giving particular importance to Virginia Woolf’s conceptualisation of a room as a space enclosed by four walls or as an architecture of the self. This will lead me to a myriad of questions related the human experience such as mortality, alienation, time, perception etc... These will all be explored in relation to the emblem of a room/space, through multiple local and international artists, writers and philosophers. To give my dissertation contemporary relevance, I have also made reference to the pandemic and its impact on re-defining our outlook on our own rooms and experiences. As a summary, this dissertation is heavily centred on a personal reflection of myself and what I occupy and what occupies me. To delve into the visual part of the project, I have mainly focused on this relationship between the materiality of the object and mortality of the being, the permanence and impermanence. I want to convey this desire and obsession to grasp onto fleeting moments, objects and beings that reside within the familiarity of my own room/space. This will be explored through the use of multimedia.