In the morning the skin says to all, which side of the body you slept on in the night. The mark of the pillow and the crumpled bed sheet can be seen on the lines engraved on your cheek.The skin is the stage for a visual performance of the reaction to the advances of the other. Every encounter leaves an imprint. Pull, push, squeeze, pinch or fondle- each will leave a distinct mark of the act on the surface. A caress leaves as many marks as an abuse.
The skin allows us to consider how boundary formation, the marking out of the lines of a body, involves an affectivity which already crosses the line. For if skin is a border, then it is a border that feels. (Ahmed, 2000) The skin is an affective opening for the body to register how it has been touched by another body. So the skin may crawl, may blush, retract, or wrinkle as its boundary is invaded by another body. The touch permeates the body space as a mark of hostility or familiarity. The encounter deforms the natural state of the skin for a some given moments. The skin heals itself in time.
The Imprint of an encounter is a series of work that freezes the marks of the bodily trespass into the boundary of the skin to be seen in a timeless frame.
