In this week’s lectures, we went over how medical technology is a form of art. This can be seen in MRI’s and X-ray machines. The human body has always been one of the great mysteries and complexities that the human race has faced. Even in ancient history, the Egyptians were fascinated with human bodies, and would cut them open when mummifying their dead. The human body itself can be seen as a work of art, and the continued dissection of bodies over time shows human interest in it. As mentioned in part one of lecture, Body Worlds was an exhibit that preserved body parts and exhibited them to an audience. I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit this when Body Worlds came to San Diego in 2009. It was an incredible exhibit, like nothing I had ever seen before. The part that made the most impact on me was seeing the lungs of a smoker compared to a healthy one. This exhibit influenced people to not only see the body as a piece of beauty or a work of art, but it also made people more aware of being healthy towards their precious body.
This picture displays the human body as a form of art.
In lecture, I found out that plastic surgery has been around for centuries. I thought it had only come about during the period of The Great War because of the need for reconstruction surgeries. Plastic surgery today is very popular, and even more so in the region of Southern California, where many of us reside, because of the focus on outward appearance. An increasing number of people are on the quest to find beauty perfection, or they are trying to hide their own perceived flaws. On a TV show that is currently airing called Botched, people come into a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon’s office in order to fix a certain body part that they identify to be their flaw. This show can be related to the artist Orlan who would undergo many plastic surgeries to change her appearance. However, she stated that she was not undergoing these surgeries to make her body more beautiful; rather she wanted to display diverse artwork. Orlan stated that she wanted to acquire the ideal of female beauty depicted by male artists. I personally feel that people like Orland, or others that are always changing their physical appearance for whatever reason, are not considered artists using medicine as art.
Citations
"Artiste Transmédia Et Féministe. Météorite Narratif Du BIO ART. Web. 12 July 2014.
"Botched." E! Online. Web. 11 July 2014.
"Current Exhibitions." Body World. Exhibitions. Web. 12 July 2014.
"Medicine Pt1." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 10 July 2014
"Orlan - Carnal Art (2001) Documentary." YouTube. Web. 12 July 2014.
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I'm also very interested in Body World and really hope I can watch an exhibition. I actually like Orlan and I think her body art really promote people to rethink about the definition of beauty. What does being pretty means really?
ReplyDeleteThank your for your comment. I think that there is a different definition of being pretty for everyone. To Orlan, she did not believe in the traditional sense of being pretty. Her goal was to disrupt the standards of beauty. Today, many famous female figures conform to these standards which impact the youth today. Orlan wants to prove that there is not just one type of beauty.
ReplyDeleteI also prefer the beauty of the human body in it's natural form and think 'beauty' can be defined in many ways not traditionally accepted by our current culture. But I absolutely think Orlan is an artist and a phenomenally interesting one at that, working in an extremely personal medium, her own body. I don't think her goal is to prove that there are multiple types of beauty, but to make a comment on the way we define and prize and revere our cultural definitions of 'beauty.' And I don't think her intention is to reach a patriarchal standard of beauty, but in performing these surgeries in costume, her goal is to draw attention to and comment on others who do that.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that you were able to see the Body Worlds exhibit in person! The opportunity to see the preserved body parts must have created a more comfortable approach to these topics. Your elaboration on plastic surgery is something that I agree with as well and do not understand the obsession with altering one's body for a certain look. However, society has progressed in that manner and I believe it is going to be difficult to get a way from these certain actions that humans are making with advanced technology available.
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