The thesis paper documents the role of metaphors in generating meaning through connection with the body, examined through the lens of my art practice. My research is informed by writing around body-based meaning-making (Lakoff, Johnson, Orbach et al.) and recent theory on the metaphoric and emotional nature of reasoning (Lakoff, Jackson). My examination is informed by a literature review including texts from cognitive science, linguistic philosophy, and neuroscience. I consider the deployment of my body within my art making in a study of how meaning is acquired in a whole-body process. Using a heuristic working method I relate these theories to the artworks produced including sculpture, video of performance, and photography. The thesis documents the process of making of artworks, and considerations of the body-based meanings that emerge. These reflections and artworks comprise a site of prospective new meaning-making for the viewer through my autobiographical and figurative art practice.