The structure for the thesis is derived from Andre Aciman who writes in Letters of
Transit:
Eventually, of course, one does stop being an exile. But even a "reformed" exile will continue to practice compulsive retrospection. With their memories perpetually on overload, exiles see double, feel double, are double. When exiles see one place they're also seeing --or looking for--another behind it. Everything bears two faces, everything is shifty.... Exiles see two or more places at the same time not just because they're addicted to a lost past. There is a very real, active component to seeing in this particularly heightened retrospective manner: an exile is continuously prospecting for a future home--forever looking at alien land as land that could conceivably become his.
CHAPTER 1: RETROSPECTION, begins with an autobiographical screenplay about growing up in South Africa, leaving by ship to emigrate to Germany, and then of my decision to move without my family to America. The screenplay follows my biography through defining moments, which are always present in my work, always in some form visible, never told.
In CHAPTER 2: SEING DOUBLE, the screenplay continues. Life as an immigrant forces one to confront continuously the realities of loss of kinship, place, and identity, always leaving a person open to questioning one's own and also a group's identity. How does a person make a life around these issues, how does one make a work? Julia Kristeva takes it so far as to ask, "Can one be a foreigner and be happy?"
CHAPTER 3: OVERLOAD focuses on process in the studio--a brief description. How did the Statue of Liberty enter the work?
In CHAPTER 4: SHIFTINESS, I address the question: why do I edit my work to the point of appearing "easy," or "minimal" when my studio practice is one of abundance of ideas and materials?
CHAPTER 5: COMPONENTS, explores how I see as my role as an artist. What role do I see my work playing in the gallery?
In CHAPTER 6: MOMENTARY SENSE OF LIBERTY, the screenplay concludes. I've been asked to address how I see myself stepping into the future. A momentary glimpse.