Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Illustration
First Advisor
Susan Doyle
Second Advisor
Jaleen Groove
Third Advisor
Jean Blackburn
Abstract
This thesis examines the author’s feelings of exclusion and marginality through a critique of mainstream social narratives, consumerism, and capitalism. Written in an autobiographical and essayistic mode, it combines personal
reflection with an exploration of the motivations behind an art practice shaped by the desire for equality, belonging and co-existence. Because the author’s artistic practice revolves strongly around personal narrative, the thesis uses subjective experience and metaphor to affect as both material and method. Through the allegorical figures of the Bluebird, the cat, and “blankness,” it explores the difficulty of social belonging, the pressure of adaptation, and the emotional struggle of survival within dominant social structures.
Drawing on theories of consumer society, existentialism, anthropocentrism, and anthropomorphism, the thesis reflects on how modern social values, material competition, and human-centered ways of thinking shape objectification and exclusion.
At the same time, it turns to nature and to abandoned parrots as a way of reimagining allowance of vulnerability, equality, and coexistence beyond hierarchical social logic.
he written thesis corresponds directly to the artistic logic of the project. Its autobiographical structure, fragmented reflections, and metaphorical language mirror the conceptual concerns of the installation itself, foregrounding the fragile and negotiated nature of survival and the difficulty of achieving equality. The final installation articulates an ongoing attempt to imagine coexistence, compromise, and a utopian form of shelter within the limits of lived reality.
Recommended Citation
Que, Pingfan, "My Utopian Dream" (2026). Masters Theses. 1691.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1691
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.