The Body as Art

There are many ways people have began to modify there body's to create a living and walking piece of art or maybe to try and make themselves perfect through corrective surgery and implants.

A tattoo is a permanent marking made by inserting ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons such as branding in tribes. I find tattoos fascinating and how you can now have a piece of art you have drawn 

tattooed onto your own skin and be a true part of you , however it is the permanence of it which is off putting to me. 

Another form of body modification is body piercing from the ears and belly-button to your face and your private parts! However I found this picture fascinating as a lady has combined the two (body piercing and tattoos) on to her face to completely cover it , so much so it looks painful and  doesn't look as if it is real. 

Scarification is a process ware scars are formed by cutting or branding the skin. Scarification has been used as a rite of passage in adolescence , or to denote the emotional state of the wearer of the scars , such as times of sorrow or well-being. This is common among Australian Aboriginal and Sepik River tribes in New Guinea , amongst others. The Maori of New Zeland used a form of ink rubbing 

scarification to produce facial tattoos known as "moko'. Moko were considered to make the body complete as 

Maori bodies were considered to be naked without theses marks. Moko were unique to each person and served as a sort of signature. Here is an example below.

Dr.Gunther von Hagens is a controversial anatomist who invented the technique for preserving biological tissue specimens called plastinisation. he does this by replacing the bodily fluids with plastic essentially preserving the skin and organs. Many people are confused by his work not being able to come to terms with whether it is a form of art or a piece of science. I find it very interesting in science terms however as a piece of art very strange and rather intrusive.

I find Dr. Gunther von Hagens work could be relevant to the doll project to try to re-create one of his pieces showing the inside organs and layers of flesh and muscle on a doll. This would be a very different take on the classic angelic doll. I also like tattoos and the tribal patterns from the different tribes.