Skin; the largest organ of the body, functions as a substance, a signifier and a protective container. The role that skin plays, however, is not just purely instrumental: It is a site of contact and mediation with the world, a performative surface by which our identity is both formed and designated, serving as a symbolic interface of materialisation and meaning. ‘’Skin is a liminal structure, it is in-between, it is the template on which our experience, inner and outer, is inscribed, and our experience and inheritance, is there to be read by others.” 1, In a sense, skin is a form of archive that holds traces of our personal histories. Preservation and documentation of this record is vital and forms the contextual focus of my practice.
In my inquiry into the notion of skin as a site of inscription, I aim to draw attention to the often-overlooked scars and marks that bear testament to our experiences, whether accidental or self-made. The act of uncovering these hidden tethers is an attempt to address the uneasiness connected to concealment and exposure, which is necessary in order to understand the complexities of embodiment and inherence of inhabiting a skin. This attempt to capture this elusive nature of skin is an investigation to reveal evidence and questions embedded beneath the surface about identity, memory and the inextricable connection of the body and the embodied self.
My role in my practice is to be an archivist and creator. Material explorations in photographic medium’s qualities have been the primary vessel of preservation and creation. Photographs are reminiscent of time capsules and can only represent the past and therefore, like scars, signal an absence due to its temporal physical constraints when depicting the present. Both scars and photographs exist in a liminal space as a trace, ethereal and fleeting in their link to an event. ”The medium of photography speaks to the possibility of escaping the skin, for the negative is a vulnerable surface, is nothing but surface disconnected from its referent thus pure signifier and, most significantly for me, is a membrane, much as the skin is, upon which other things come to be inscribed.” 2 The properties of the medium not only dictate the nature of the representation in this space that is indexical, it in turn, determines the nature of the memories, imaginings and associations that overlay each other. Informed by the underlying substrate in which other processes are enacted.
Consisting of a series of portraits, the body of work is a collection of documented marks on individuals’ histories. Close-cropped, these scars left on the bodies pictured have come to stand in for memory, allowing the subject to be anonymous and only identifiable by the presented fragment. Treatment of these individuals as magnified skin-scapes, rather than traditional portraits depicting a face for reference, release an experience between bodies. ‘’Focusing on the nuances of skin, skin portraits allow our attention to move from the subjects’ identity to the experience of embodiment of many bodies, including the viewers. ‘’3 This push and pull between the viewer and their physical relationship with the portraits reveals a thin-skinned disposition, forcing a personal encounter that feels invasive in a public setting; a crossing of boundaries takes place. The motivations and concerns of my work are to challenge the value skin beyond a mere surface or receptacle and consider the embodied knowledge present.
Notes:
Michael J. Amy, Hans Gercke, and Heinz Norbert Jocks, Skin (Berlin: Heildberg, 2002), 22
Watson K. Amy, Complexion: Skin, Surface and Depth in Contemporary Art Practice (Johannesburg: The Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010), 84.
Kellett, Heidi. “Skin Portraiture: Relational Embodiment and Contemporary Art. (Probing the Skin: Cultural Representations of Our Contact Zone, 2015) 244.
Bibliography:
Brown H. Elspeth and Phu, Thy. Feeling Photography. (London: Duke University Press, 2014)
Burbridge, Ben and Pollen, Annabella, Photography Reframed: New Visions in Contempoary Photographic Culture. (London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2018)
Gibbons, Joan. Contemporary Art and Memory: Images of Recollection and Remeberance. London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2009)
Kellett, Heidi. Skin Portraiture: Relational Embodiment and Contempoary Art. (Probing the Skin: Cultural Representations of Our Contact Zone, 2015)
Michael J. Amy, Hans Gercke, and Heinz Norbert Jocks, Skin (Berlin: Heildberg, 2002)
Watson K. Amy, Complexion: Skin, Surface and Depth in Contempoary Art Practice (Johannesburg: The Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010)
May 3, 2019Context, Contextual, Reflection, Research, skin, StatementLeave a commentEdit