Skin As Art By Spencer Tunick: Article Analysis

However, I feel that even though Borel gave lots of evidence, some of them might not be relevant as some of the tribes she has mentioned might be obsolete. Furthermore, this essay was written in 1994, which is more than 20 years back, whereby contemporary beliefs have already formed. Such as clothing our body in musculature, suntan, or makeup; dying its head hair or pulling out its bodily hair. (Borel, 1994).

In the context of physical appearance, black woman are only featured with body parts- mainly their “large, rotund behind” (Perry 137). The presentation of the face is mainly limited to white or lighter-complexioned women. The highest idealization of women is one that possesses a “‘high-status’ face combined with a highly sexualized body read by the viewer as the body of a poor or working-class woman” (Perry 137). Perry further substantiates her claim by stating that “women are created or valued by how many fantasy elements have been pieced together in their bodies” (137). She debunks the opposition arguing that the bodies of black women are appreciated by pointing out that only a minority of black women have such attributes, and those without are pressured and struggle to achieve such proportions.

Horace Miner’s essay, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, focused on rituals among the people of the “Nacirema” tribe (or the American people). The first main idea of the essay is that all people of this group spend most of their time and earnings on “ritual activity” which targets improving the human body. Leading to the second main idea of the essay which asserts that a fundamental belief among these people is that the human body is “ugly”. The final and overall main idea of the reading is obsession over self-image has caused these people more stress than necessary.

Body modifications have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years. But certain stigmas still persists to this contemporary day. One such body modification is the act of inking or marking the skin: Tattooing. Like most body modifications, tattoos are an often misunderstood form of body modification. Despite the stigmas, tattoos have become a unique object of desire to diverse groups of people. But are the popular perceptions of tattoos out of synch with the true meaning behind them? This essay will explore the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body. It will also explore why tattoos engender

The purpose of this paper is to better inform the readers what stress markers are and what they are able to tell an anthropologist about a person. The reason that this is important is that it can help identify specific traits of how the person lived their life and a potential understanding of their work. In reading this paper you will hopefully have a better understanding how sex, age, and lifestyles can influence stress markers on bones of the shoulder joints.

This image entitled “The perfect Body Campaign: Advertisement 1” portrays pale bodies juxtaposed against an achromatic backdrop, each either slyly looking away or smiling coquettishly at the camera. Thick, sizable lettering fills the center of the image audaciously proclaiming that these women have “The Perfect Body”. Each woman wears a matching bra and pantie. Their bodies are svelte with at least one of their feet angled into a pointed position as if they are dancing their way into the viewers’ bedrooms. A darker figure occupies the center of the image. Her skin is is just a few shades darker than those standing next to her, and her darkness is not palpable until the image is given a second glance, in part because the white bodies surrounding her act as a band-aid for her blackness. The very lighting of the image haunts the darker woman by painting her pores a shade lighter than they actually appear. If the viewer looks closely at the model’s left arm in comparison to their stomach, the stark contrast between the nearly white elbow and tan stomach becomes apparent. The contrast is hidden by the woman on her left shoulder and the positioning of the arm next to lighter panties. Again light and whiteness conceal the true nature of the middle model 's skin.

A Russian photographer Alexander Khokhlov decided to disregard a traditional perception of make-up. In his Weird Beauty photo series, made together with a Russian make-up artist Valeryia Kutsan, Alexander uses women’s face as canvas creating sharp black and white patterns. The duo chose shapes and symbols that are hardly relatable to a human’s face, like a QR code or a large key hole which make the models’ faces dissolve in the background. Surprisingly, the contrast between the soft faces of the models and the strict lines of the body paint creates a beautiful contrast, quite like black does to white. The pictures look like optical illusions, where your eyes first catch the drawing, and only after that you discover the beautiful female faces

“The colors and pictures we apply to our skin communicate our values and aspirations as well as our hopes and personal histories. Even when we adopt the “natural look” and don't adorn our skin at all, we are making a social statement. Our skin talks even when we don't; it is not a neutral canvas.” (Jablonski, 164) “Body art represents, among other things, a sustained effort to reverse the dematerialization of art by making the body matter.” (Taylor, 111)

“Nude on Black Screen” is composed out of oil on screen canvas. This is a beautiful image of a woman, dancing, embracing herself and her womanhood. This image is a very good example of modern day version of women’s liberation. Constructed in very intense white, which is extremely eye catching against the black of the projection screen. The lines are a somewhat thick line, running in a horizontal direction, running parallel to the line above and appear to have a curve or wave to them, as they flow to form a cylinder like, 3-D visual of the woman’s body. The viewer will notice that the image is fairly accurate in showing the curves of the woman herself; it shows roundness in the breast, abdomen, hips and rear. It also shows off other womanly features like hair, hands and soft facial features. Even though the viewer is unable to see the expression on the woman’s face, it is easy to feel and interpret the feeling behind this image. As the lines form this 3-D visual, they also form the texture of the image. The lines allow the viewer to feel as if they are able to reach out and touch a tangible image. The woman’s body is placed off to the right side of the projection screen, but a portion of her lower left leg, and her long, flowing arm is extended to help balance out the image. With the concepts that Stanley Helms used, makes this piece full of traditional art ideas. Allowing a person viewing any form of artwork to think deeper, art is made up of all sorts of methods, and art is

The study of the human body has always been an important focus in the field of art. An artists’ main focus is on the outward appearance of their subject, always aiming to be aesthetically pleasing for their audience. With modern advances in radiological technology, artists and radiographers can now create art focused on the inner beauty of humanity rather than the outward beauty. Starting in ancient Greece and continuing through to our modern day society, artists have been creating images of “the perfect human body” purely for aesthetic reasons. Today’s media has kept this idea alive by illustrating unrealistic, and sometimes unhealthy, body expectations in advertisements leading to our society to take the preference of beauty aesthetics over

Michael Atkinson had many questions about the stigma that comes with the tattooed body, but not very many answers, so in his book Tattooed: The Sociogenesis Of Body Art, he set out to find why such a large number of Canadians are currently turning to tattooing as an outward appearance of self-expression rather than clothing or free speech and tries to explain why individual habituse´s, otherwise known as personality structures or second natures, fluctuate over time (Atkinson, 2003: 13).

In conclusion, there are many reasons why people partake in the culture of body modifications. Traumatic events, like bullying or sexually assault, may cause people to modify their nose or breasts. The lack of a parental figure helping a young person accept their body can do tremendous damage to their self-esteem. On the contrary, people may feel like they “owe it to themselves” to get a piercing, tattoo, or partake in cosmetic surgery. Body modifications can help, or harm, a person’s mental health and

In tribal communities, the ancient practice of scarification is a mark of beauty, strength and power. On the other hand, in western society, scarification is viewed as “self-objectifying and taboo”. In reality, Body modification is practiced around the world in different ways; tattoo, plastic surgery and piercing. As these practices are also self-mutilation, only scarification can’t be regarded as

Body painting is a certain form of art that continued with humans through the ancient times to the modern day times, where artists use the human body as canvasses to show beauty like no other style of artwork can. African, European, Asia, and Australian tribes have shown records that body painting was used. The tribes were using pigments from plant leaves and fruits to decorate themselves because body art was an important part of their lives. Body art would represent qualities of the people, goals for life, gods, and many war themes. The first full body painting arose in 1933 of a naked model in Chicago. Body painting spread out during the 1960’s when hippies began the movement in the United States. It is important to clarify that body painting is not just applied to nude bodies, but also can be applied to pieces of skin. Alexa Meade is a very skilful artist and has a certain style and view of body painting herself.

The Human race is the only species that changes their skin every day. We adapt to warmth, to beauty, to functionality, to originality and to look alluring to others. Our consumer society has adapted to provide the consumer with material freedom to suit both materialistic and non-materialistic needs. We no longer wear garments for the fundamental need of protection and warmth, we use them as symbolic representations to create identity and understanding. ‘Humans possess specific, identifiable, underlying needs which are the same regardless of nation, religion or culture’ (Fletcher, K. 2000). As humans we operate in a complex, psychological demeanour. Through the freedom of our culture and societies, we decorate our bodies in response to our psychological creative tendencies. Our main essential need for clothing can be divided into two categories: Physical and psychological. Even though these needs are in separate categories they are tailored by one another, our materialistic needs such as affection, recreation, freedom, participation, cultural diversity and identity are constructed around our fundamental requirement of substance, protection and modesty (Miguel Angel Gardetti and Ana Laura Torres., 2003). These materialistic needs are pressured by commercial industries and social