This thesis analyzes contemporary photographer Jeff Wall and his representations of cultural memory and domesticity. Wall both references and mimics historically and culturally significant symbols of canonical painting to comment on the role of art incontemporary society. In the coming chapters, this thesis places two of Wall’s photographs in conversation with paintings by Édouard Manet, Tintoretto, and Willem deKooning to examine how Wall deploys representation of domestic spaces to comment on the entwinement of female bodies, sexuality, and economic exchange. Wall’s photographs addressed in this thesis construct complex visual narratives that reflect upon the challenges to representational norms and conventions that were carried out by Manet, and deKooning in their own historical moments. Rather than offering a chronological account of Jeff Wall’s artistic trajectory, the thesis examines Wall’s critique of ingrained societal perceptions of women and the experience of womanhood itself through case studies of A View From an Apartment and The Destroyed Room and relevant paintings by Manet, Tintoretto, and deKooning. This thesis analyzes these photographs and paintings in their respective historical and cultural contexts to emphasize the parallels that Wall draws between violence and ideas of women as capital.

Social stereotypes in industrial countries have long regarded women as lacking the capacity for understanding the intricacies of machines, from appliances to cars. A major barrier excluding women from technology was the specialized language spoken by those in the industry. It is through my unique perspective as a female Automotive Master Technician that I explore the photographs, paintings, and prints during the interwar period between World War I and World War II created by female artists from a technical point of view. The First World War had artists such as Olive Edis who recorded female ambulance drivers while Dorothy Stevens, Henrietta Mabel May and Anna Airy showcased the skillset of the women machinists. During the interwar period Elsie Driggs rendered monumental structures while capturing the essence of the airplane all in the Precisionist style as Sonia Delaunay used her theory of Simultanism on the inner workings of the Spitfire airplane. For WWII, photographers M. Thérèse Bonney and Ann Roesner both snapped pictures of women operators of the lathe and drill press. Ethel Gabain’s prints displayed women machining parts and Edna Reindel depicted women in shipyards. During the New Deal and WWII, Barbara Wright shot over 2,600 images of women. Finally, Laura Knight painted portraits of award winning women and to uplift the spirits of the public. These artists proved that women were more than capable of understanding this complex language of machines.

According to a Washington Post and YouGov study conducted in 2014, 60% of
the 861 U.S. citizens surveyed supported aid and subsidized housing for the homeless
Population. Of that same survey group, however, 52% and 46% supported banning panhandling
and sleeping in public, respectively. This disconnect highlights how we as Americans view
homelessness: people who are on the fringes of society that deserve help, but only from a
distance. This creative project is a book of twenty poems in which each poem will correspond
aspects of the homeless experience. This project also serves to make the homeless population
more relatable to the general population, bring a voice to a marginalized population who are not
heard or helped, and bring about better resources for the homeless population.
The project was completed in stages. First interviews with homeless individuals were
conducted and questions such as “What is your passion?” and “What three words would you best
describe homelessness as?” A special effort was made to make sure that the thoughts and
feelings of the homeless individuals were presented without bias. The book was then put together
as a manuscript. An analytics paper was also prepared that discussed the background of the
problem, influences on poetry, and challenges throughout the process. A presentation on the
process was also prepared for the thesis defense.