Reading Response 1

This article discussed the importance and significance of using the skeleton and inner body in different forms of art. The first artist mentioned was Laura Ferguson, a New York based artist that used images of her own skeleton to create a project called the "Visible Skeleton Series." The series used a combination of mixed media to tell Ferguson's struggles-- a visual autobiography in a sense. Ferguson dealt with scoliosis most of her life and often depicts this in her work. She states that she "Explicitly engages in a 'learning through drawing' process that allows her to regain a sense of ownership of the body that is usually lost when one’s experience of disease or disability is taken in charge by doctors" (35). She sees the mutated inner body as something beautiful, rather than a negative burden on one's life. Another artist talked about in the article is Frida Kahlo. I have been obsessed and fascinated with Kahlo's life since I first viewed her work in middle school, and have learnt more about her work than I ever intended to. She made art during a time where a woman's body was still controversial when it came to art. Kahlo suffered a major accident as a young girl that put her in a full-body cast and unable to have children. She used both medical symbols and metaphoric icons to portray the suffering she had gone through. Finally, the third artist mentioned is Annie Cattrell, a Scottish artist based in London. She works mainly through sculpture to make what should be invisible, visible. She used glass to create hyperrealistic sculptures of human anatomy, showing the relationship between the outer body and inner body. She also used neuroimaging to display consciousness and MRI scans to display the effects of neuronal activity. In conclusion, both Ferguson and Cattrell incorporate the inner body into their work to show the metaphorical political and social networks that the inner body represents.