The narrative unity of a person’s life suggests there is an imaginative use of metaphor that can generate meaning in art and life. What I like about Anthropologist Paul Ricoeur’s work on the subject of metaphor, is that he synthesizes and opens the possibilities for communication and interpretation. His concepts of combined phenomenological descriptions with hermeneutic interpretation indicate the narrative unity of the work.

Que uses a copy of my Cuban grandmother’s diary to interpret migration through art. This means there is more than one interpretation, and history allows for the past and present to be merged and influence one another. The interpretation is open and fluid with no fixed truths, so hermeneutics (the art and science of text interpretation) in terms of interpreting art, allows for historical approaches to meanings of works of art, rejecting the art-object-subject thinking of modern art.

Stephen Coplandstudied at the National Art School, Sydney (ASTC Diploma in Painting, 1969-1972); in 1988 he was awarded a Graduate Diploma in Education (University of Technology Sydney) and a Masters of Fine Art, University of New South Wales (1995). In 2013 he completed a Doctor of Creative Arts from Wollongong University. He has been visiting lecturer at Darwin University, Northern Territory and Assistant Professor University of Sharjah, College of Fine Art and Design, United Arab Emirates and has conducted workshops/lectures at Vermont State College, Burlington USA, Universite Saint Espirt de Kaslik, Lebanon, International Kongress Fur Kunstlerische Bildung Kirchliche Padagogische Hochschule, Graz, Austria.

His research as an artist is interdisciplinary with a strong basis in drawing and the identity of a book and its cultural, social, poetic, or aesthetic functions. Of Scottish, Cuban Lebanese, background his art has focused on the themes of transcultural identity, heritage, diaspora and human rights. Since 1986 he has had 30 solo exhibitions, including exhibitions in museums in Cuba, New Zealand, Slovakia, Austria and Lebanon.
 
His Migration Series 1992-2002, a project of international exhibitions earned him a Commendation Award from the Consulate General of Lebanon (1999). Recipient of a number of awards and cultural grants including a Migration Heritage Grant, an International Programs Grant - NSW Ministry for the Arts, a Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant.

In 2006 Copland was invited to conduct workshops on migration heritage at Art Education Models and Perspectives, Grazer Congress Graz and Europe Compact V Paedagogische Akademie Graz, Austria. The multimedia CD-ROM Migration Series was presented at the Symposium - New Media and the Global Diaspora Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island (2007). In 2008 he was invited to present at NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo Shaping the Future of International Education Washington, DC, USA, and the 32nd InSEA World Congress at the international Society for Education through Art, Osaka, Japan.

In 2009 Copland was keynote speaker (and presented workshops to art educators) at the International Congress for Art Education ITATE Graz, Austria. His work was selected for the touring 5th International Artists' Book Triennial Vilnius, Leipzig Book Fair Germany (April), including Galerija Arla Vilnius, Lietuva (May), Art Centre Silkeborg Bad, Denmark (September), Gallery Hubner Bokform, Halmstad, Sweden (Spring 2010), Seoul International Book Arts Fair, Korea (Spring 2010) and for Dog-Eared: Revealing the contents of artists books, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana USA. The recent solo exhibition, Raft – the drifting border, Macquarie University Art Gallery (2009) reflects Copland’s interest in utilising art as voice for human rights and social justice.

Most recently in 2010 in conjunction with the World Universities Congress, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and the Australian Consulate Copland and Australian artist Meredith Brice with Turkish artist Ihsan Drogrusoz exhibited at the Kolin Hotel, Canakkale to celebrate cultural diversity and heritage and build on the Australian Turkish relationship. He was invited artist for publication in the December 2010 issue of Human Rights Defender, a tri annual magazine, Australian Human Rights Centre, University of New South Wales and was winner of the Gosford City Photographic Prize 2010. Recently he was awarded the Moya Dyring Studio, Cite Internationale Paris from the Art Gallery of New South Wales for 2011 and was selected as finalist for the Gallipoli Art Prize 2011.  The group exhibition transit developed in the United Arab Emirates was first launched in Qatar at Virginia Commonwealth University Gallery Doha 2010, The Art Gallery, Nanyang University of Technology, Singapore 2011 and shown in 2013 at Macquarie University Art Gallery.

www.stephencopland.com.au