The Transformative Power of an Ethic of Care in Patricia Piccinini’s Mythic Posthuman Offspring

<p>This thesis examines the contemporary artist Patricia Piccinini and her posthuman hybrid creations within the context of a feminist ethic of care. Largely referring to scholarship by the political scientist Joan C. Tronto, I argue that Piccinini expands the definition of an ethic of care to include non-human entities as well as human ones. The four phases of care identified by Tronto will serve to outline the encounter between the audience and Piccinini’s work to see how humans and non-humans (1) care about, (2) take care of, (3) give care and (4) receive care from each other, as well as reveal any conflicts in the care process or unequal power dynamics.Taking The Young Family, the Nature’s Little Helpers series, Big Mother, and other figures as key examples, their relationship to humans and the dynamics of care between them are fleshed out to determine how power and responsibility is divided between those supposedly responsible for care, the actual caregivers and the care receivers. Ultimately, Piccinini blurs the boundaries between human and non-human to highlight the mutual autonomy and interdependency of all life forms and call for an equal redistribution of power and responsibility between the privileged who determine who, what, and where care occurs, those who actively perform care, and care recipients in order to argue for an expanded and more inclusive definition of care.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art History

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Parrish, Keely

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lise Kjaer
• Craig Houser

• Patricia Piccinini
• ethic of care
• posthuman
• postnatural
• Contemporary Art

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1209

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-2366