The Edge of Painting: Representation as a Corporeal Act in Zaha Hadid's Painting Practice

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the topic of Zaha Hadid’s painting practice, focusing primarily on paintings created between 1976 and 1991. Though writing on individual paintings and painted projects from this time period does exist, there is limited extended analysis of the body of paintings as a whole, which constitute some of the most significant work produced during Hadid’s first decade of practice, and perhaps even in her career. For the level of interest surrounding these paintings, there exists a profound silence regarding the paintings themselves. That silence is what this thesis emerges in response to.

Considering Hadid’s paintings in terms of their content, this thesis aspires to contribute to a nascent literature that presents the paintings as meriting attention in their own right. On another level, by examining the environments in which the paintings were displayed, this thesis will consider how Hadid’s paintings break from the tradition of the printed image as a medium of architectural communication; the paintings thus evidence a much larger change regarding the means by which architectural knowledge was communicated at the end of the 20th century.