Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Ceramics
First Advisor
Shoji Satake
Second Advisor
Lesley Baker
Third Advisor
Barbara Tannenbaum
Abstract
This thesis explores the concept of burden ship as a framework for understanding human connection and meaning within contemporary life. Through a series of interconnected essays, this project examines different facets of burden including themes of knowledge, time, identify, responsibility, and choice, and through this exploration, the project investigates how these burdens shape Individual and collective experiences of reality.
These essays are accompanied by artistic projects that use light, digital interaction, weight, constriction, and material tension, as methods of embodying burden in physical form.
At the core of this thesis, is the belief that meaning is not passively discovered; it is actively constructed through care, sacrifice, and responsibility. By reframing burden not as a negative force, but as a necessary condition for authenticity, the work proposes burden as a generative force capable of transforming personal identity and communal understanding.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Matthew L., "There is No Real : The Burden Makes it Real" (2026). Masters Theses. 1562.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1562
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