Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Imprints of an encounter






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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

like it.you have a wonderful style of writing
subodh

Darney Charles said...

Ok, I'll bite. Interesting thing. If I may say so MAM, you might want to be a little less honest on the internet.

Either you wrote this, or you copied it. But I guess one thing is for sure, the author whoever he or she might be, is not at all talking about the skin here. Its something deeper.

My first guess, the author is talking about some long lost hurt, which left a mark on her.

We all have marks. What matters is how we decorate them.

-Vipin

Darney Charles said...

Also, I forgot. The model here, looks amazingly beautiful. Even if she doesn't realise this.

The dirt may make it look dirty, but the painting still gets its beauty from the model, and not the artificial flavors

-Vipin