Body As Medium:

Body As Medium:

Bird speaks of the body being a universal medium since no matter how artists choose to use it in expressing conceptual ideas, we all have one and we can all relate to this “mortal coil”. (Shakespeare, from Hamlet)

However some artists have been very literal in using nail clippings and bodily fluids as the art medium.

“The risks in both performance and object-based work are comparable, as moving appeals to common humanity risk crossing the border into sensationalism or exhibitionism” ( Bird, 2012, pg. 192)

I have never been drawn to this kind of art and from the beginning I felt it was crossing the border as Bird suggests, into sensationalism.  But as I learned more about the history and individual artists’ intent it became more accessible and easier to understand. I do like to be presented with things that make me uncomfortable just for the fact that I know I always learn something when I push myself out of my comfort zone. I think it would be fun to make a print using my fingers, hands, feet, side of my face and lips in a mandala shape. I might even add some strands of hair for texture. I like using the body as took much better then using the body as medium. 

Here are two photos from each kind:

 Wafaa Bilal:

"Bilal’s level of physical endurance was tested in 2010 with a project titled “And Counting.” It honored deceased Iraqi troops, including his own brother who was killed by a missile in their hometown of Kufa, Iraq. He made a statement about the invisibility of Iraqi civilian deaths by first having a borderless map of Iraq tattooed on his back, followed by 5,000 red dots representing fallen American soldiers and 100,000 dots in permanent invisible ink representing the deaths of Iraqi civilians. The entire process took 20 hours to complete. The dots of invisible ink are only seen under a black light, where they emerge as an eerie layer of luminous blue all across his back. In the videos of the process, Bilal remains cool and collected — even after hours of tattooing, his hands are steady.

His most recent project, “The 3rd I,” involved surgical attachment of a camera to the back of his head. For an entire year, starting Dec. 15, 2010, this camera streamed an image every minute to the project’s website and provided his exact GPS location. Through this project, Bilal wanted to examine the places that humans leave behind as their fixation on the future becomes increasingly central to their lives."

http://thetartan.org/2012/1/30/pillbox/wafaabilal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUrwdqwzqMU

And here she is again...Marina Abramovic:

"I started realizing I could use any material I want, fire, water, and the body. The moment when I started using the body, it was such an enormous satisfaction that I had and that I can communicate with the public that I could never do anything else. I could never go back to the seclusion of the studio and be protected by the space there. The only way of expression is to perform."

 http://www.theartstory.org/artist-abramovic-marina.htm