Department of Fine Arts
Reframing Disaster in Terms of Painting
Michelle Forsyth’s research is concerned with the relationship between the tradition of painting and the growing field of digital media. She uses the manual process of painting to counter apathetic forms of spectatorship fostered by quickly transmitted, high-resolution digital images. Disaster coverage in the media, violent video games, websites that display images of death, and television shows that rely on individual suffering for entertainment all serve as fuel for her work.
Forsyth seeks support to produce a series of drawings based on firsthand visits to 100 historical and contemporary disaster sites within the United States and Canada. This work will rely on the spectacle to give it meaning, yet the drawings document an absence of it.
Forsyth holds an MFA from Rutgers University and a BFA from the University of Victoria. Her work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in both Canada and the United States.
Contact Information
Michelle M. Forsyth
Assistant Professor, Painting, Drawing & Digital
Media
Department of Fine Arts
Washington State University
PO Box 647450
Pullman, WA 99164-7450
Telephone: 509-335-3278
E-mail: mforsyth@wsu.edu
Web: www.wsu.edu/~mforsyth
Arts, Humanities, Culture, and Design
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