Bodies of Knowledge Response

 The main themes of this reading included the exposure of the inner body in an artistic manner through various art forms. The beginning of the article discussed the taboo nature of publicly exposing “gruesome” anatomy and history of how society changed its mind a few times about  allowing the public to have easy access to not only images and knowledge about the body, but also in-person experience.  The artists mentioned later in the reading all exemplified art about the workings of the body in different formats and mediums but my personal favorite to see and learn about was Laura Ferguson.  The article quotes Ferguson saying, “Art is one of the few arenas in which the less-than-perfect body can be portrayed with its own kind of beauty, grace, sensuality and originality”. This is a concept that I am very drawn to because I have personal experience with using art as a form of therapy focused on self-love and acceptance. I have always felt that art tends to not only feature beautiful bodies, but portrays them in a glamorized or monumental way that makes them seem more special than they are to the naked eye.  This is also true for images and creations that depict subjects other than people (I just have a great appreciation for art and I think it can be more beautiful than the world it is based off… which means I glamorize the standard/ideal bodies that are usually seen in art).  Through my drawing and creation, I find acceptance of my own body by depicting it in a beautiful way and it was refreshing to hear another artist agree with this.  Art that glamorizes or simply represents un-idealized bodies or concepts is such a powerful idea because this is a process that people already accept.  Models are constantly photoshopped and celebrities are portrayed on film in near perfect condition. Although we could see these people in person and realize they are a lot more normal looking, we allow this idolization of their fabricated beauty. As I was saying, the same is true for other subjects such as beautiful paintings of nature that many times are unrealistically stunning. We crave art that is more beautiful than reality, so using this to normalize and appreciate imperfections and less wanted features on our own bodies (or even stretching this concept beyond physical bodies and applying it to occupations/gender/religion/anything under-represented or disrespected by society) should be done more often.