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Alison Thomson_Rosella Spider Orchid 2013 Cottlesbridge.jpg

Alison L. Thomson
 

Creative art practices can be used as a support for spiritual, psychological and neurological transformation. An awareness of trauma, neuro-diversity and 'parts-work', such as Internal Family Systems, offer a bridge between experiences of the absolute and the finite. (Thomson, 2024. See useful references below.)

 

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Alison Thomson is a multi-media installation artist who combines elements such as ice, water and seeds with more fixed materials such as bronze, wood, glass and stone. Thomson is interested in how art can be a process for cultivating and describing new ways of being, and acknowledges the natural environment as a fundamental component of our physical and spiritual states.

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During 2013 Thomson completed a Master of Fine Art by research at Monash University. This project used visual art practices to investigate the philosopher Luce Irigaray’s concept of the ‘sensible-transcendental’. The research was undertaken through participation in Vipassana meditation and the lgnatian Spiritual Exercises. (See pdf attached below or hardcopy at Monash University library.) Irigaray argues that males and females, and the categories of the masculine and feminine, are different and equally valuable. For Irigaray, sexual-difference is the first and foundational difference from which all other differences arise. Through her concept of the 'sensible-transcendental' Irigaray aimed to elevate the value of the sensible in response to reductive dualism. (See, for example, Plato's 'Divided Line' and Glossary of Terms below for further explanation.)

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Through art practices, Thomson developed Irigaray's concept of the 'sensible-transcendental' into a union or synergy of transcendence and finitude. Thomson's re-conceptualisation of the 'sensible-transcendental' reflects the notion of metaxu and the Christian concept of integrating heaven and earth. (See Jonathan Pageau eg. 'Christian Architecture' - YouTube lecture.) Recent scholarship in cognitive science, psychology and the wisdom traditions refer to this approach as 'transcendent-naturalism'. (See the work and website of Dr John Vervaeke.)

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Glossary of Terms: 

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  • The Absolute: God, Love.

  • Sensible: senses and sense objects, matter, nature, the relative, finitude (The sensible forms part of the realm of Becoming in Plato's ontology. The realm of Becoming also includes emotions and mental imagery. It is typically aligned with the 'feminine' in Western metaphysics.)

  • Transcendental: the divine prior to objects, ideas and ideal forms, spirit, the intelligible, mind, intellect, rationality (The transcendental maps onto the realm of Being in Plato's philosophy. It is generally associated with the 'masculine' in Western metaphysics.)

  • Subject: the 'I' or agent. (The true subject integrates subjectivity and objectivity. John Vervaeke has proposed the term 'trans-jective' to describe this way of being.)

  • Subjectivity: thought, speech and action (has a spiritual, psychological and biological basis.)

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Useful References: See the websites of researchers listed below for further information about their work and courses.

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Image: Rosella Spider Orchid - rear view, by Alison Thomson 2014. The photograph shows the flower in first bloom. *Please note all artworks, images and text included on this site are subject to copyright laws.

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