My thesis project, Undefinitive, examines the cyclical process of destruction, transformation, and rebirth through installation, ceramics, and text. With a deep unease toward my own gendered body, I investigate how vulnerability, both physical and psychological, can become a site of resistance and empowerment. Drawing from feminist theory, Chinese mythology, and stream-of-consciousness narratives, my work explores the monstrous and the fragmented as inseparable states of one’s becoming. Through references to body art, speculative fiction, and queer theory, I reimagine femininity and queerness as forces capable of dismantaling societal structure and forging new modes of existence.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where consciousness inhabits non-human forms, Undefinitive tells a queer love story between a moth and an orchid at the dusk of the human era. Using text as the foundation for worldbuilding, I construct a fragmented installation where ceramic sculptures and video projections evoke fictional histories that resist linearity and definition. By inhabiting the in-between space of human and non-human, body and mind, I explore how gender, love, and identity might persist beyond the collapse of traditional binaries. In doing so, I seek to envision a new ontology rooted in fragmentation, transformation, and queer affinity.
","abstract_html":"<p>My thesis project, Undefinitive, examines the cyclical process of destruction, transformation, and rebirth through installation, ceramics, and text. With a deep unease toward my own gendered body, I investigate how vulnerability, both physical and psychological, can become a site of resistance and empowerment. Drawing from feminist theory, Chinese mythology, and stream-of-consciousness narratives, my work explores the monstrous and the fragmented as inseparable states of one’s becoming. Through references to body art, speculative fiction, and queer theory, I reimagine femininity and queerness as forces capable of dismantaling societal structure and forging new modes of existence.</p> <p>Set in a post-apocalyptic world where consciousness inhabits non-human forms, Undefinitive tells a queer love story between a moth and an orchid at the dusk of the human era. Using text as the foundation for worldbuilding, I construct a fragmented installation where ceramic sculptures and video projections evoke fictional histories that resist linearity and definition. By inhabiting the in-between space of human and non-human, body and mind, I explore how gender, love, and identity might persist beyond the collapse of traditional binaries. In doing so, I seek to envision a new ontology rooted in fragmentation, transformation, and queer affinity.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mu, Lan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Graduate School of Art","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Heather Bennett","Monika Weiss"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-05-07T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-05-07T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:17Z","subjects":["Feminist Art","Queer Theory","Posthumanism","Monstrous Feminine","Ceramic Installation","Speculative Fiction","Art and Design","Fiction","Fine Arts","Queer Studies","Women's Studies"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/32","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Heather Bennett","Monika Weiss"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mu, Lan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-05-08T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Graduate School of Art"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Feminist Art","Queer Theory","Posthumanism","Monstrous Feminine","Ceramic Installation","Speculative Fiction","Art and Design","Fiction","Fine Arts","Queer Studies","Women's Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/32"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["My thesis project, Undefinitive, examines the cyclical process of destruction, transformation, and rebirth through installation, ceramics, and text. With a deep unease toward my own gendered body, I investigate how vulnerability, both physical and psychological, can become a site of resistance and empowerment. Drawing from feminist theory, Chinese mythology, and stream-of-consciousness narratives, my work explores the monstrous and the fragmented as inseparable states of one’s becoming. Through references to body art, speculative fiction, and queer theory, I reimagine femininity and queerness as forces capable of dismantaling societal structure and forging new modes of existence.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where consciousness inhabits non-human forms, Undefinitive tells a queer love story between a moth and an orchid at the dusk of the human era. Using text as the foundation for worldbuilding, I construct a fragmented installation where ceramic sculptures and video projections evoke fictional histories that resist linearity and definition. By inhabiting the in-between space of human and non-human, body and mind, I explore how gender, love, and identity might persist beyond the collapse of traditional binaries. In doing so, I seek to envision a new ontology rooted in fragmentation, transformation, and queer affinity.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Undefinitive"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Heather Bennett","Monika Weiss"],"dc:creator":["Mu, Lan"],"dc:date.available":["2025-05-08T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["My thesis project, Undefinitive, examines the cyclical process of destruction, transformation, and rebirth through installation, ceramics, and text. With a deep unease toward my own gendered body, I investigate how vulnerability, both physical and psychological, can become a site of resistance and empowerment. Drawing from feminist theory, Chinese mythology, and stream-of-consciousness narratives, my work explores the monstrous and the fragmented as inseparable states of one’s becoming. Through references to body art, speculative fiction, and queer theory, I reimagine femininity and queerness as forces capable of dismantaling societal structure and forging new modes of existence.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where consciousness inhabits non-human forms, Undefinitive tells a queer love story between a moth and an orchid at the dusk of the human era. Using text as the foundation for worldbuilding, I construct a fragmented installation where ceramic sculptures and video projections evoke fictional histories that resist linearity and definition. By inhabiting the in-between space of human and non-human, body and mind, I explore how gender, love, and identity might persist beyond the collapse of traditional binaries. In doing so, I seek to envision a new ontology rooted in fragmentation, transformation, and queer affinity.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/32"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["Feminist Art","Queer Theory","Posthumanism","Monstrous Feminine","Ceramic Installation","Speculative Fiction","Art and Design","Fiction","Fine Arts","Queer Studies","Women's Studies"],"dc:title":["Undefinitive"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate School of Art"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:17Z"}