Date of Award
5-10-2026
Date Published
June 2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art Photography
Advisor(s)
Yasser Aggour
Second Advisor
Laura Heyman
Keywords
Affective Regulation;Alienation;Built Environment;Photography;Urban Landscape
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts
Abstract
This thesis examines how contemporary capitalism manages a shared condition of exhaustion—the accumulation of stress, alienation, and mental fatigue—by offering calibrated forms of relief that leave its underlying causes intact. Approaching exhaustion as a collective and structurally produced condition, I make photographs that trace how it is softened and normalized within the spaces we inhabit and move through in our daily lives. Central to the project are what I describe as “apparatuses of relief”: infrastructural features embedded in public and semi-public spaces that are designed to regulate affect and soothe nerves. Operating beneath the surface, these elements promise momentary relief yet remain pervasively integrated within the environments that generate the pressures we perpetually attempt to escape.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Yu, Jiayue, "Apparatus of Relief: On Sustained Exhaustion" (2026). Theses - ALL. 1020.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/1020
