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Georgia Southern University

Lightness of Being and the Burden of Gravity

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The challenge of the human condition is to bear the loss that comes with every second, moving forward, breathing without thinking; moving forward, through moments that pass so uneventfully that we will not recall them, along with moments that we experience so profoundly that we begin to use them as landmarks in our personal histories. My view of time is of something that surrounds me and becomes a part of my identity. Yet, as I contemplate what it means to BE, I must face the constancy with which that being also changes. Regardless of the things that I remember, or that I forget, gravity perpetuates the movement of time. Thus, gravity becomes our greatest burden. Through my writing and research, I explore the dual nature of being, and the transient natures of both the intellectual and physical self. In my thesis exhibition, The Lightness of Being and The Burden of Gravity, I employed the medium of video installation in order to provide a space that evoked both the ephemeral and the physical sense of being. In my support paper, I discuss this exhibition in depth, as well as my conceptual connections to literary and artistic influences, such as the writings of Milan Kundera and Jorge Luis Borges, and the work of artists Masao Yamamoto, James Turrell, and Ann Hamilton.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis (open access)
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Department of Art
Year dc:date.available
2008

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Mixon, Emily Don
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Julie McGuire
  • Leigh Thomson

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/138
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1138

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Georgia Southern University
Base URL
digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Mixon, Emily Don. Lightness of Being and the Burden of Gravity. Thesis (open access) thesis, 2008. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/138