ARISTOTLE, PERSUASION AND THE UN-PALATABLE MESSAGE

Abstract
This thesis uses mixed media to express survivors’ written accounts of child abuse in a way which makes the stories acceptable as artwork in the public domain. While contemporary persuasion theory evaluates change in a person’s attitude and behaviour, this thesis focuses on the acceptability of representations of the stories through mixed media; it does not consider attitude or behavioural change in the viewers. Using Ancient Greek Tragedy as a catalyst, Aristotle’s work, as contained in Poetics, is used to derive a framework for implementing narratives of survivors of child abuse through mixed media so that an audience will find them acceptable for viewing. The framework is based on five elements: Logos, Ethos, Pathos, Mimesis and Metaphor. The first three Greek terms may be defined respectively as narrative, ethical considerations, and emotion, Metaphor is used to express the narrative, in this thesis as creative artwork in mixed media, while Mimesis refers to the actions of the creation, such as using charcoal to suggest the rough treatment of a survivor. The framework is evaluated against specific artwork from Goya and Francis Bacon, whose mimeses also support the details of the created artwork for the thesis. The created artwork was hung in a public exhibition in Rugby for four days where the public were invited, through snowballing, to view the work. After viewing for as long as they wished, the participants, who were all adults, gave their views through semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that of the 78 participants, 70 found the artwork to be acceptable as representations of a hidden situation, providing the viewers were adults. Again, 71 of the participants identified the subject area of the exhibition as trauma and abuse, thus indicating that Aristotle’s framework can be used to underpin creativity, thus facilitating acceptability of traumatic experiences by adults.