Under and Beyond (the Skin)
Artistic process, trauma and embodiment in image-making

By
Kristina Fiedrich
BFA Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, 2005

A thesis essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of:
MASTER OF APPLIED ARTS IN VISUAL ART

Emily Carr University of Art and Design,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2012

© Kristina Fiedrich, 2012

ABSTRACT

This paper examines bodily presence and absence, points of connectivity, and
negotiates the terrain of the body through two distinct projects. Engaging in a drawingcentered practice I consider embodiment through two projects (Under the Skin and Beyond the
Skin), forming a dyad through which to negotiate and illuminate various bodily expressions and
representations.
Throughout a lived existence, the body undergoes various transformations and
adaptations; its ongoing mutation requires a continuous realignment and re-examination. A
phenomenological approach acknowledges that an embodied experience is one which is
physically aware and shapes our understanding of the world. Trauma, in varying degrees, forces
the body to transform and adapt, potentially resulting in a different embodied perspective.
Under the Skin takes up a study of embodiment through trauma and the body in pain.
Beyond the Skin engages the prosthesis from an artistic perspective, exploring the
capacity for altering the figuration of the body, which in turn informs my artistic praxis.
Engaging works by artists Rebecca Horn and Matthew Barney, my intention is to develop a
context for my own practice and an expansive understanding of prosthetic terminology and the
presence of a prosthetic metaphor in artistic practices. As a creative endeavour the
refiguration of prosthetic terminology has the potential to enhance the cultural experience of
loss, trauma and adversity, allowing an exploration of the body as adaptable and expandable.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

ii

Table of Contents

iii

List of Figures

iv

Acknowledgements

vi

1

Introduction

1

2

Drawing as Technology

5

3
3.1
3.2

Under the Skin
The Wound
Peel

11
16
19

4
4.1
4.2
4.3

Beyond the Skin
Rebecca Horn
Matthew Barney
Fleshed Out

24
28
33
42

5

Summary

48

Works Cited

51

Works Consulted

54

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1 Kristina Fiedrich. The Wound (2 of 4), detail. 2011. Watercolour and artificial
sweetener on paper, 22 x 30 in. ......................................................................................16
Fig. 2

Kristina Fiedrich. The Wound (1 of 4), detail. 2011. Watercolour and artificial
sweetener on paper, 22 x 30 in. ......................................................................................18

Fig. 3 Kristina Fiedrich. The Wound (4 of 4), detail. 2011. Watercolour on paper,
22 x 30 in. .........................................................................................................................18
Fig. 4 Kristina Fiedrich. Peel (1 of 4). 2011. Watercolour on paper, 22 x 30 in. .......................20
Fig. 5 Kristina Fiedrich. Peel (3 of 4), detail. 2011. Graphite on paper, 22 x 30 in. ..................21
Fig. 6 Kristina Fiedrich. Peel (4 of 4), detail. 2011. Watercolour and artificial
sweetener on paper, 22 x 30 in. ......................................................................................21
Fig. 7 Rebecca Horn. Arm Extensions. 1968. Fabric, wood and metal, 23.6 x 48.4 x 20.1 in.
Used by permission of the Tate Collection. .....................................................................29
Fig. 8 Rebecca Horn. Handschuhfinger (Finger Glove). 1972. Metal, fabric, wood, paper,
card and photograph, dimensions variable.
Used by permission of the Tate Collection. .....................................................................30
Fig. 9 Rebecca Horn. Bleistiftmaske (Pencil Mask). 1972. Pencils, metal, fabric, wood,
paper, card and framed photograph, dimensions variable.
Used by permission of the Tate Collection. .....................................................................31
Fig. 10 Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 2. 1988. Documentary Photograph.
Copyright Matthew Barney 1988. Photo: Michael Rees.
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.......................................................35
Fig. 11 Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 6. 1989/2004. Documentation Photograph.
Copyright Matthew Barney 1989. Photo: Chris Winget.
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.......................................................36
Fig. 12 Aimee Mullins and Hugh Herr on the cover of WIRED Italy.
Material removed due to copyright restrictions.
Jill Greenberg. Cover of Wired Italy: Evoluzione in Corso. April 2009. Jill Greenberg
Studios. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. ............................................................................................38

iv

Fig. 13 Aimee Mullins, photographed by Jill Greenberg for Wired Italy.
Material removed due to copyright restrictions.
Jill Greenberg. Aimee Mullins. April 2009. Jill Greenberg Studios.
Web. 21 Nov. 2011. .........................................................................................................38
Fig. 14 Still from Cremaster 3, showing Aimee Mullins as a cheetah woman.
Matthew Barney, Cremaster 3, 2002. Production still
 2002 Matthew Barney. Photo: Chris Winget
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.......................................................39

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Randy Lee Cutler for the privilege of working under her supervision and
for her guidance, insight and sincerity; Terryl Atkins for the years of mentorship and friendship,
and the encouragement to pursue this degree; Ben Reeves for the studio visits and inspiring
conversations; and of course Mum and Pops for their continued and overwhelming support.
I am ever grateful.

vi

1
INTRODUCTION

The research generated in and outside the studio for the duration of the Master of
Applied Arts program, and indeed as a life-time pursuit, has been realized in an examination of
the body’s relationship to embodiment and prosthetics. Through a drawing-centered studio
practice, I have chosen to examine the body’s relationship to trauma, extension and adaptation,
as a means of better understanding my own lived experience and those living under similar
circumstance. The research has guided me from collage work – the fractured, fragmented body
exposed as a collection of parts – to exploring the re-interpretation of a bodily whole. In this
way I take up the body in a variety of its modalities preferring not to privilege one incorporation
over any other.
My primary research project has been largely determined by a grant I received from the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, titled The Fashionable Prosthetic: investigating the
visibility and new fashion of prosthetic research, contextualizing the role and impact of
technology and medical engineering research on both the appearance of prostheses and the
potential for greater embodied sensibility/awareness. This project (re-titled Beyond the Skin)
has required a breadth of inquiry that in some ways drew me away from the studio, and has
subsequently become the main focus for the written component of my thesis.
The choice to delve formally and artistically into prosthetics, trauma, adaptation and
extension is both of personal and general interest. My experiences with trauma and its longterm effects has crept and settled into my own body, allowing access to what I believe to be an
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 1

expanded embodied knowledge. Additionally, prosthetics have appeared in past works as
metaphor for loss and trauma; however engagement with this subject, while still operating in
the realm of metaphor, has expanded to include the possibilities for adapted embodied
experiences.
While working in the studio during this degree, it became increasingly clear that I was
operating within two different, yet intertwined projects informed by bodily awareness: one that
examined the appearance and visibility of prosthetic extensions and devices via adaptation
(Beyond the Skin) and another involving a more instinctual, visceral and visual interpretation of
being embodied (Under the Skin). The understanding that the work had two distinct
components has allowed me to take up different ideas and influences. I soon grew to
appreciate the ways in which one project informed the other and created a dyad, leading to an
evolving relationship that reflected the grounding ambition of this thesis project, to become
receptive to the adaptable nature of the body.
The artists discussed in this paper have been chosen specifically for their involvement
and inclusion in the discourse surrounding prosthetics in art. In order to adequately
contextualize my own research and resulting artistic praxis, I consider Rebecca Horn’s body
sculptures to outline a conversation of illness and loss, followed by Matthew Barney’s Drawing
Restraint series and collaboration with amputee Aimee Mullins as a means of discussing
athleticism, adversity and opportunity. Though these artists represent examples of
Performance and Body Art movements of the 20th Century, which contrasts my twodimensional drawing practice, both Horn and Barney’s involvement with the body has opened

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 2

not only a dialogue of prosthetics in art and a prosthetic metaphor, but an over-arching theme
of embodied art practices.
Engaging in an embodied art practice, one which places equal importance on both
studio production and textual research, opens the possibility for new creative expressions of
the familiar and strange, and exploring alternative ways of knowing. Through my own reflective
and creative methods, theoretical knowledge and lived experience have the potential to merge
into an active and reciprocal relationship. In this way, an embodied practice can encompass
intellectual, emotional, instinctual, social and artistic experience. The search for alternative
means of expression often results in tensions and ambiguity within the drawings that may
never be fully resolved for artist or viewer, however at this early stage of my inquiry, this
tension only further compels me to continue this investigative avenue.
The question of technology haunts this paper, at times appearing straight-forward,
though more often its numerous possible definitions and applications only generate more
questions. My interest in technology stems from its affinity to permeate, at times unnoticed, all
aspects of contemporary life. What is technology? A singular definition eludes me; instead I
have chosen to take up different instances within my practice appealing to a curiosity and
proclivity for potentially unanswerable questions or manifold answers.
The scope of my research extends beyond the themes discussed in this thesis essay, as I
tend to become absorbed in literature. The writing, which represents a portion of the thesis
project, has been a method to reflect on often disparate thoughts and ideas, and has become a
means through which to provide myself with a greater understanding of the direction of my
practice. As the written component reaches its conclusion, I continue to be captivated by the
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 3

impossibility and challenges of representing absence and interiority. The intention of the studio
practice is to find a visual language, through bodily subjectivity, corporeal awareness and
materiality that might express an embodied experience.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 4

2
DRAWING AS TECHNOLOGY

My approach to image-making is mutable, much like the experience of the body.
Engaging in a drawing-centered practice permits immediacy in its process, and flexibility in both
material and method. Even work produced in the first year of this program exercised exactitude
and care in the planning and execution stages. More recently I have found myself less invested
in these characteristics becoming increasingly attracted to more fluid and amorphous
approaches. Additionally, I have incorporated watercolour for its aqueousness and looseness,
allowing more abstract, less rigid expressions of my subject matter which pen or pencil
markings at times resist.
Often, the subject of my work finds its origins in literature and philosophical theory. The
abject1 has long held my interest, in theory and through my creative practice, and has
infiltrated the way in which I approach image-making. The visceral appeal of abjection and
formlessness2, alongside the thematic appearance of the body within my practice, stimulates a

1

In this instance, the reference to ‘abjection’ relates to The Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by
Julia Kristeva. Integral to the relationship of the body to the ‘other’, abjection is described by Kristeva as
that which disturbs order, existing on the border of an individual’s limitations of being. In
psychoanalysis, the abject is inherent in the discussion of the self’s desire for meaning, and the exclusion
of the other as a means of survival. The foundation of a critical discourse of the body, identity formation
and the ‘other’, the abject enters into the theoretical discussion of becoming, through the recognition of
the self by means of rejecting that which threatens to expose the human body as fallible.
2

‘Formlessness’ or the ‘informe’ relates to French Philosopher Georges Bataille’s 1929 Documents 1
definition of the formless: that which exists in un-fixed terms, at once sacred and horrific, attractive and
repulsive. More than just the objects of disgust, it is “a matter of thinking the concept operationally, as a
process of ‘alteration,’ in which there are no essentialized or fixed terms” (Krauss 98). Bataille was
interested in the splitting apart of meaning, and the shifting nature of definition. ‘Formlessness’, as
neither theme nor form, is, according to Bataille, a method for challenging limitations and constraints.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 5

physical reaction which I feel compelled to investigate. Abject theory informs an artistic and
material practice involving the body and has affected an engagement with the macabre,
pushing the boundaries of corporeal interpretations/representations.
When lacking clarity or creative vision, I turn to other artists’ practices, finding influence
in the works of Wangechi Mutu, Hans Bellmer, and Berlinde Bruyckere, to name a few. I troll
online art blog feeds and create what might be described as ‘mash-up’ image searches (ie:
expanded + body, Rorschach + embodiment), drawing from disparate sources to find potential
connections and new investigative avenues. There is a fascination in uncovering further
representations of the body which provoke discomfort, awkwardness, and excitement. Images
to which I am consistently drawn are those which both repel and inspire. The all-too-human
body affects repulsion and arousal, being at once familiar and strange. Through an embodied
practice I engage ideas of shifting corporeal awareness, taking up a challenge to expand the
boundaries of what is recognizable and identifiable, human and beyond.
Within the thesis project, I have two separate yet complimentary projects, each with a
different methodological approach. Under the Skin, to be discussed in Chapters 3.1 and 3.2 of
this paper, engages primarily with the subject of embodiment and developed out of a need to
create work in the studio, exploring corporeality through process, materials and the subject of
bodily representation.
Beyond the Skin (Chapter 4) differs from Under the Skin in that it is informed by an
equally pleasurable research-based practice, considering scholarly articles, interviews and
scientific studies and allowing these findings to determine the direction of the project. Because
of the dense textual nature of this process, Beyond the Skin has a greater presence in this
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 6

paper. Knowledge acquired through articles and other literary research has strongly influenced
the course of this project; however as I immerse myself in the studio, the sensibilities of the
Under the Skin have also begun to persuade the direction of its dissemination. The reciprocal
nature of working across two distinct studio projects has had a significant affect on how
research informs, leads and often delays making. In taking up different modes of research, and
considering what it means to engage in an embodied art practice, it is important to
acknowledge that not one mode is privileged over another: literary research provides
knowledge through which to filter the physical, bodily nature of working in the studio and vice
versa.

The immediacy and tactility of drawing as a practice often provides distance from newer
technological production. This is not to say, however, that drawing cannot involve technology
and other forms of production. Through various lines of questioning and production I have
grappled with the question of technology as it appears in my practice. Drawing’s process has
progressed to involve other mediums and disciplines through the investigation of line and
mark-making. My continuing fascination with the drawing medium lies in its direct relationship
to the body: the physical connection of the drawn line to the hand of the artist; the variety of
tools and technologies available for mark-making; the proximity of the body to the finished
work.
Technology strongly conditions the experience of ourselves and others, and thus can be
seen as a type of mediation. Media theorist Marshall McLuhan wrote, “Physiologically, man in
the normal use of technology (or his variously extended body) is perpetually modified by it and

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 7

in turn finds ever new ways of modifying his technology”3 (51). Throughout history, the body
has transformed and extended its limits. Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Elizabeth
Grosz hypothesizes in her essay “Naked,” for The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present
to a Biocultural Future that we don’t know what bodies are capable of. Whether in the realm of
genetics, molecular biology, or sports, we have a general understanding of bodily capacities but
have refused to accept limits and boundaries of what is bodily possible and impossible (193).
This constant state of becoming is an integral part of a natural cycle of human development:
“the ever-transforming, ever-recontextualizing of what has been done so that it can be done
differently” (193). Bodies and technologies can thus be seen to function in relationship:
transformations and modifications in one will produce transformations in the other, in cyclical
feedback. While it is generally recognized that technologies have transformed everyday life,
the focus of this paper is not on specific technologies, but the appearance of those specific
technologies as bodily extension in art. Using the drawing medium, it is my intention to test the
limited “prosthesis” terminology in health research and find a re-articulation of the term
“prosthesis” within an artistic context.

Expanding upon traditional drawing practices, I am interested in technology4 and the
place where technology meets the body. Pursuant to a discussion of the technologically

3

Though ‘mediation’ in the McLuhan sense is not necessarily an integral element of my research, it is
important to mention as part of the process of investigating the meeting of body and technology, both
being susceptible to modification and adaptation.
4

In 1937, American Sociologist Read Bain defined technology to include all tools, machines, utensils,
weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by
which we produce and use them. My use of the term ‘technology’ is meant to broaden the scope of a
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 8

enhanced body, my research involves bodily extensions and enhancements within which the
medical prosthesis is an aspect of a larger exploration. Technology can be described as all tools,
machines, utensils and instruments which in turn mirror, extend and enhance bodily capacities,
therefore it is not only the function of the technology, but its original intention and modified
application which may allow it to enter into a new dialogue and further artistic interpretation.
While the modern definition of technology is one fixed on instrumentality and valued as
a means to an end, I would like to illuminate another possible definition. In his essay “The
Question Concerning Technology,” Martin Heidegger re-evaluates ‘technology’ from an
instrumental and anthropological definition, characterized as a means and a human activity, to
identify what he considers its essence and original, intended relation to poiesis (10). Derived
from the Greek term meaning ‘to make,’ and from which we derive the word poetry, Heidegger
defines poiesis as a ‘bringing-forth,’ or that which “let[s] what is not yet present arrive into
presencing” (10). According to this definition, technology can be understood as not only means
to an end, but also includes a poetic process of bringing something forward into presence, as a
way of revealing: “If we give heed to this, then another whole realm for the essence of
technology will open itself up to us. It is the realm of revealing, i.e., of truth” (12). Using
Heidegger’s expansive description, there is potential to further interpret ‘technology’ in relation
to an artistic practice, itself to be understood as a poetic method of revealing a truth, or bring
something forward through process. In considering the term techné5, the origin root of

drawing practice to potentially include rather than exclude a wide variety of mark-making and
investigative techniques.
5

“Technology” stems from the Greek word techné, which means “to know” in the broadest sense: “[It]
mean[s] to be entirely at home in something, to understand and be expert in it.” (Heidegger 13) Techné
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 9

‘technology,’ Heidegger states: “There was a time when it was not technology alone that bore
the name techné […] once there was a time when the bringing-forth of the true into the
beautiful was called techné. The poiesis of fine arts was also called techné” (34). Heidegger redefines technology not only as a means of revealing, but also provides an historical context
within the realm of artistic practice and aligns the act of making with that of a broader
definition of technology.
Within my praxis, I engage drawing as a means of discovery, whether through
representations of the body, or its extended potential by means of prosthetic metaphor. In this
way, I associate drawing as an expanded metaphor of technology.

is the rational method of production of an object, or the accomplishment of an end. It is also translated
in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as either craft or art.
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 10

3
UNDER THE SKIN

Within a practice which also involves the intimate, personal and conceptual subject of
embodiment – knowledge generated through corporeality – I explore the ability to convey an
experience of the body. Here I turn to Maurice Merleau-Ponty and phenomenology to
contribute to an understanding of embodiment as a means of becoming conscious of the world
through the medium of the body. Merleau-Ponty states: “I cannot understand the function of a
living body except by enacting it myself, and except in so far as I am a body which rises towards
the world” (87). This body which rises to the world does not exclude intellectual knowing but
rather is inextricably fused with it:
“Man taken as a concrete being is not a psyche joined to an organism, but the
movement to and fro of existence which at one time allows itself to take corporeal form
and at others moves towards personal acts. Psychological motives and bodily occasions
may overlap because there is not a single impulse in a living body which is entirely
fortuitous in relation to psychic intentions, not a single mental act which has not found
at least its germ or its general outline in physiological tendencies.” (Merleau-Ponty 101)
While this phenomenological approach to embodied existence satisfies a particular
recognition, our current historical moment also recognizes that “the kind of body to which we
have been accustomed in scholarly and popular thought alike is typically assumed to be a fixed,
material entity […] existing prior to the mutability and flux of cultural change and
diversity”(Csordas 1). The habituated ‘fixed’ body, or Merleau-Ponty’s ‘concrete’ body, can no
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 11

longer be sustained as new possibilities of being and having a body extend beyond the flesh.
How then does the present moment – with multiple definitions and interpretations of what
constitutes the ‘body’ – alter or shift the meaning and understanding of embodiment?
Embodied knowledge draws upon the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and his undoing of
the Cartesian mind/body split, and has evolved into various approaches such as feminist
epistemology, philosophy, anthropology and cognitive sciences. Current applications allow for
the possibility for expanded ways of thinking, speculating that all knowledge can potentially be
embodied: physical experiences form associations which can further shape our concept of the
world. My own application acknowledges fluctuating boundaries, corporeal assumptions and an
historical break from fixed notions of the physiological body as I attempt to negotiate the
terrain of embodiment through my own bodily knowledge.
The complex history of embodiment requires a much deeper inquiry than this paper can
afford: as I begin to scratch the surface of both the discourse surrounding embodiment, as well
as the interpretation of my embodied experience, the exploration of its application resides, for
the time being, in the early stages of knowing.

In her essay “Real Phantoms/Phantom Realities: On the Phenomenology of Bodily
Imagination,” cultural critic and amputee Vivian Sobchack discusses her own evolving embodied
exploration as deeply personal yet accessible:
“Although particular experiences may be idiosyncratic to a degree, they are also,
and in the main, lived both generally and generically—generally, according to
various inherent properties of embodied existence such as spatiality,
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 12

temporality, intentionality, reflection, and reflexivity; and, generically, according
to usually transparent cultural habits that regulate the boundaries of human
being and its meanings.” (Sobchack)
Sobchack’s candid discussion of body image/imagination resonates for me a desire to
lay myself open to experience. In examining my own ability to visualize and represent
knowledge gained through the body, I feel compelled by the possibility for drawing, in its
immediacy and tactility, to produce some shared awareness, empathy and the commonality of
the lived human experience.
The impact of trauma and loss on one’s ability to both acknowledge and accept a shift in
embodiment requires further investigation. While not every body experiences the same
instances of trauma, what can, perhaps, be drawn from varying perceptions is a way in which to
connect fully with our corporeality. For example, Sobchack’s describes her “phantom limb”
resting against the sofa cushion, providing the reader with both the subjectively and objectively
perceived body: subjectively speaking, the phantom sensation of her missing leg provides an
ambiguous yet sensorially ‘real’ connection with her remaining limb; objectively, the amputated
leg no longer exists. This conjures, for this reader, a sensory experience not of a phantom limb
but an acute awareness of my own subjective/objective body: I imagine the contours of my leg
and ‘feel’ its weight and simultaneously observe my leg as being present.
It is perhaps important at this juncture to acknowledge the issue of fetishization and
different bodies. I want to make clear that while I have used Sobchack’s phantom limb
sensation as a means of relating the possibility of a general/generic embodied experience, I do
so in so far as I might illustrate that sharing a different body’s experience allows me, in turn, to
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 13

access my own body. Desiring to categorize, describe and interpret human experience engages,
as Sobchack states: “[…] in the intentional and reversible activity of perception and expression
as its [the body’s] primary mode of being in the world (indeed, of having a world at all)”
(Sobchack, Real Phantoms). By entering my own body into dialogue with a different bodily
existence, the emergent phenomenological consideration is one that perhaps engages greater
corporeal presence and reflection.
According to sociologist Marcel Mauss, the body is the first and most natural
instrument, through which we learn techniques of action and perception: “The constant
adaptation to a physical, mechanical or chemical aim […] is pursued in a series of assembled
actions, and assembled for the individual not by himself alone but by all his education, by the
whole society to which he belongs, in the place he occupies in it” (79). Throughout a lived
existence, the body undergoes various transformations and adaptations; its ongoing mutation
requires a continuous realignment and re-examination. A phenomenological approach
acknowledges that an embodied experience is one which is physically aware. Trauma, in varying
degrees, forces the body to transform and adapt, whether visibly or invisibly, requiring with
each adaptation a synthesis of the subjective and objective characteristics, potentially resulting
in a different embodied perspective. Is, then, an embodied experience – having a body (in
whatever subjective/objective instance) and being embodied – simply the recognition of a body
being in the world, or is there a greater task at hand?
My own experience of bodily trauma and resulting chronic pain has greatly informed an
ongoing interest and investment in the body. As a result of trauma I have found myself taking
up a practice of self-examination, delving deeper into what it means to be embodied, and
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 14

engaging a phenomenological approach to corporeal awareness, highlighted by sensorial
experience. This process of revealing/unveiling manifests in the first project titled Under the
Skin, discussed in the next two chapters of this paper.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 15

3.1
THE WOUND

Fig. 1 Kristina Fiedrich. The Wound (2 of 4), detail. 2011. Watercolour
and artificial sweetener on paper, 22 x 30 in.

The Wound [fig. 1], an autobiographical series of studies and drawings generated from
the observation of a recent flesh wound, marked the beginning of a self-motivated discussion of
the visibility and invisibility of the body in pain. In his book titled The Absent Body, philosopher
Drew Leder examines corporeal absence, or the lack of external and interior consciousness,
analyzing the phenomenological and physiological body as present in experience, thought and
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 16

action, while simultaneously absent from our awareness. The neglect or forgetfulness of our
embodiment can shift, according to Leder, in the presence of dysfunction, in the form of illness,
disability or pain. Where otherwise one might experience feelings of neutrality, the body in pain
is spatially, temporally, and qualitatively brought to our attention.
In the case of a tear or a break in the skin’s surface, attention is brought to the body’s
abrupt transformation, “punctur[ing] the scene with novelty” (Leder 72). Only a moment
before, the body intact was neutral, less than embodied, its normal mode and function
requiring no marked beginning or end. Suddenly a fall, the body’s position, a visceral act,
creates a new beginning, drawing attention to the source of the pain and the body, interrupted.
The physical appearance and recognition of a transformation through dysfunction highlights a
corporeal fragility and fallibility, requiring a different engagement and treatment of the sensory
experience, and “must take account of the body as living process” (30).
The Wound is an entry to the body, both in its presence and its past manifestations.
Through The Wound, I recall not only more recent corporeal alteration, but similar childhood
experiences of sudden painful bodily transformations, visible and invisible, and the body’s
ability to heal itself. How might this sense of embodiment be new or different? Bringing to
mind Sobchack’s discussion of the capacity for shared embodied experience, The Wound
performs as common ground: though it makes reference to an autobiographical incident, the
viewer may recall a similar experience, potentially leading to an informed, embodied, and even
visceral appreciation. The abject nature of the content and the materiality of The Wound may
repel, but also perhaps engages the viewer in a palpable memory of their own (wounded) body.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 17

Fig. 2 Kristina Fiedrich. The Wound (1 of 4),
detail. 2011. Watercolour and artificial
sweetener on paper, 22 x 30 in.

Fig. 3 Kristina Fiedrich. The Wound (4 of 4),
detail. 2011. Watercolour on paper,
22 x 30 in.

The materiality of the watercolour – its unpredictability, changeability and fluidity –
mimics the body in its healing process: the colours bleed into one another, spreading away
from where the brush touches the watery surface, affecting the surface the way a wound alters
the skin. Just as a bruise blooms or a scab forms days after the occasion of the wound, the
watercolour shifts and dries with unexpected changes and results. The fluidity of watercolour
also gives a sense of delicacy, an impermanent medium on a fragile surface.
Implying bodily absence, the representation of the wound occupies only a fraction of
the paper’s surface. It is my intention to demonstrate the way in which, through pain, the
absent body is revealed: the presence originates at the wound. As a serial work, The Wound
[fig. 2, 3] is a physical discovery and creative expression of the healing process, and marks the
beginning of an ongoing investigation into the body altered and in pain.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 18

3.2
PEEL

As a continuation of The Wound, Peel looks beyond the surface of the body to bring
forward an invisible dimension of embodiment. The inspiration for this work originated from
human dissection illustrations created during the Edo Period, Japan (1603 to 1868). These
anatomical illustrations, dated 1798, are examples of the ongoing desire for greater knowledge
of human anatomy, a questioning and revealing of what lies beneath the surface. According to
Leder, the ‘surface’ body is the site of our interactions with our surroundings and is the focus of
phenomenological studies (11). However, the ‘visceral’ body, which lies beneath the surface
body, retreats from our awareness and is a rather mysterious region over which we have little
control: “Buried within the bodily depths, my viscera resist my reflective gaze and physical
manipulation” (Leder 53-54). Anatomical drawing, as a means of revealing, is a technique of
uncovering the visceral body, necessitating a reanalysis of our bodily perceptions. When faced
with the knowledge of my viscera, I become more aware of bodily realities: not all is what it
appears to be.
Peel [fig. 4] explores the visceral, showcasing the abstracted, mysterious nature of the
body striped of its surface. The re-presentation of the body, while a provocative proposition,
might be better served when charged through “refiguring, transforming and functioning at the
very limit of the body’s capacities – especially if […] the origin of art is the very exploration and
use of the body” (Grosz 193). The intention of this work is to uncover not only that which lies
beneath the surface, but to demonstrate a fascination – attraction and repulsion – with the

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 19

body. Regardless of superficial appearance, dissection – the peeling back of the surface body –
and anatomical drawings “flesh out” the body in its entirety. However, rather than solving its
mysteries, these drawings further confound and confront with their fragility and associated
mortality.
This subject matter is abject.
According to theorist Julia Kristeva, the
corpse defines the boundary and the limits
of our lived existence: to be acquainted with
mortality is the ultimate abjection (Kristeva
4). Alternatively, Drew Leder describes the
corpse as residing within the living body:
“Exhaustion reminds me of the sheer weight
of my limbs; an X ray reveals my skeleton to
vision; accidents remind me of my exquisite
vulnerability […] The corpse is always
approaching from within” (144). Following
Kristeva, the corpse in anatomical drawings
Fig. 4 Kristina Fiedrich. Peel (1 of 4). 2011.
Watercolour on paper, 22 x 30 in.

warns of the limits of existence and an
inevitable fate. Leder, on the other hand,

exposes the possibility that the corpse is my own. Whether choosing to be reminded of my own
body’s fallibility or identifying another’s, I recognize a common humanity and unity in

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 20

anatomical representations and the fragile nature of the body. The drawings created for Peel
attempt to penetrate the skin and confront this vulnerability with curiosity.
Peel [fig. 5, 6] is a series of four methodical drawings, each created as a response to the
previous. The first drawing considers the original anatomical illustration, its context and colour.
The fluidity of the watercolour and liberties of artistic process reveal a new form. The second
drawing reflects on the previous, translating incremental shifts of pigment into different shades
of graphite. The reduction of materiality narrows my focus to only part of the whole, and what
was once recognizable is now unfamiliar and strange. Just as the body constantly changes,
taking up this methodical drawing process allows me to continuously re-interpret my material

Fig. 5 (left) Kristina Fiedrich. Peel (3 of 4), detail. 2011. Graphite on paper, 22 x 30 in.
Fig. 6 (right) Kristina Fiedrich. Peel (4 of 4), detail. 2011. Watercolour and artificial
sweetener on paper, 22 x 30 in.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 21

and representational consideration of the original anatomical drawing. What transpires is a
process that on one hand generates ambiguity and mystery, but perhaps still asserts a visceral,
bodily response which resonates sensorially for the viewer.

By placing the drawing on the paper in relationship to the face within a portrait, the
viewer is confronted at eye-level with what appears to be an abstract image. The “face” floats
as a formless mass, and though the viewer may never fully recognize the origin of the image,
there is nevertheless an engagement in looking and a desire to understand that which is being
revealed. The mutability of the watercolour medium appeals to the transience of capturing a
fleeting moment, and the colours conjure the tactile and fleshy body. There is a pleasure in
confronting the abject and a desire to conquer the mystery of this formlessness. Equally
important to my process is the intentional concealment and abstraction of the original subject
matter, as I admit to a sense of satisfaction in knowing what the viewer might never discover
within the work.
Peel is an exploration which requires continued investigation and interpretation. The
outcome is not to gain knowledge of human anatomy but to provide a different perspective on
the phenomenological body. To name the body and its parts requires a willingness to discover
and lay vulnerable deeply personal expressions. The challenge of representing embodiment
sets forth a desire to create a visual language of bodily interaction, and explore the capacity of
the viewer to consider, empathize and acknowledge not only the artist’s sense of embodiment
but also their own.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 22

The two projects discussed here, The Wound and Peel while not explicitly related to
technological extensions haunt the next section with its preoccupations of the body in pain,
in/visibility and bodily realities. The next chapter, which takes up the second part of the dyad,
prosthesis in art, reflects larger themes of trauma, athleticism, adversity and technology within
three case studies.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 23

4
BEYOND THE SKIN

The artists and works introduced in the following chapters examine bodily presence and
absence, points of connectivity, and negotiate the terrain of the body enhanced by technology.
By exploring various interpretations of “prosthesis” in the work of artists Rebecca Horn and
Matthew Barney, it is my intention to develop a context for my own practice and an expansive
understanding of prosthetic terminology and the presence of a prosthetic metaphor in artistic
practices.
Performance, beginning with the Body Art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and
integral to an authentic representation of the physical experience, allows for explorations,
interpretations and figurations of the body. Drawing as performance has a strong presence in
Rebecca Horn and Matthew Barney’s praxes, which I acknowledge differs substantially from my
two-dimensional, non-performative drawing practice. The search for prosthetics in art revealed
a trend toward three-dimensional and performative practices, and a lack of representation
within drawing and other two-dimensional media. Though Horn and Barney employ drawing
techniques, the emphasis of their practice relies on the act of mark-making and less on the
production of finished pieces. While it was my intention when taking up this line of inquiry to
pursue a practice involving performance, which would more directly align my work with the
artists discussed in this paper, I soon discovered that the act of drawing did not satisfy my need
for image-making.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 24

It is my belief, nevertheless, that the investigation into the work of Horn and Barney has
had an influence on the direction and outcome of the work created in the studio as well as the
line of questioning researched for this paper. Through their practices I have expanded my
understanding of prosthetic terminology and pushed the boundaries of my artistic praxis in
directions I would have never followed otherwise. Beyond the Skin has since begun to unravel
the borders of my imagination, making way for new considerations of the body, and allowing
for a multiplicity of prosthetic interpretations.

Philosopher Jean Baudrillard described the prosthesis from a more traditional
perspective as “an artifact which replaces a defective organ, or an instrumental extension of
the body” (134). While this definition suffices to describe the expected medical function of the
prosthesis, it fails to include the potential of the body-technology relationship. From a cultural
and social anthropological perspective, Sarah Jain has expanded on this traditional
understanding of prosthesis, stating: “’Technology as prosthesis’ attempts to describe the
joining of materials, naturalizations and excorporations […] that go far beyond the medical
definition of ‘replacement of a missing part’” (Jain qtd. in Sobchack, “A Leg to Stand On” 19).
Using the example of a stick to find one’s way among things, Merleau-Ponty explains that by
becoming familiar with the instrument, the tactile world recedes and begins no longer at the
hand, but at the end of the stick. The instrument becomes an extension of the body’s sensory
abilities, expands perceptual capacities, and becomes a tool to perceive the world (176). If the
contemporary discourse of prosthetics is assigned to corporeal extensions and the joining of
materials, then can a drawing tool be interpreted as an extension of the artist?
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 25

In forming a practice around the use of prosthetics in image-making, I question what it
means to be at a distance. The interpretation of ‘distance’ can be quite literally the measure of
space between the drawing tool and the hand, as suggested by Merleau-Ponty, or alternatively
a dislocation of the physical body and the technology creating the mark. What is of interest to
me is the paradox of looking for connections by investigating disconnections, whether informed
via medical prosthetic devices or image-making technologies. These ‘disconnections’ can be
interpreted as a difference in physical appearance or identification between the prosthetic
device and the body or the varying definitions and metaphorizations of prosthesis as
extension/enhancement. How can I then convey the potential of the body through drawing as
an expanded understanding of the prosthesis?
This part of my research involves interpreting the visibility and invisibility of prosthetic
devices and embodied experience. By examining the medical prosthesis from an artistic
perspective, I investigate its capacity for altering the figuration of the body, to be both
extension of, and integral to the body, and for this discourse to inform my artistic praxis. My
approach to prosthetics acknowledges the term’s primary contextualization within medical
research, materials research for the advancements of prosthetic development and its literal
function for amputees. The recognition of medical prosthesis terminology is imperative to
informing my praxis in order to illuminate other potential contexts. The medical prosthesis
when used as a metaphor points to an addition, replacement, extension or enhancement and
to interactions between body and technology. In functioning as a metaphor, the prosthesis “by
tropological nature, […] is displaced from its mundane (hence literal, nonfigural) context and
placed elsewhere to illuminate some other context through its refiguration” (Sobchack 21).
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 26

I must also acknowledge the absence of psychoanalytic theory, more specifically
reference to Freudian analysis of the fetish object, within this investigation. The displacement
of the prosthesis from literal function to that of metaphor might be interpreted as transferring
agency from the user of prosthetic technology to the prosthetic object itself (Sobchack 23),
becoming “some inanimate object which bears an assignable relation to the person whom it
replaces” (Freud 153) resulting in the prosthesis as fetishized object. Though I am aware of the
inherent technofetishism which arises from displacing the prosthetic from its original context,
the prosthetic metaphor introduced and discussed within this paper maintains grounding
within the structural and functional terms of a prosthesis incorporated with the body. While
inquiry into psychoanalysis and fetishism of prosthetic technology has the potential to be a
fruitful one, it would require an exploration of such issues as castration anxiety, sexual
difference and perversion, currently beyond the scope of this thesis essay.

As a creative endeavour the refiguration of prosthetic terminology has the potential to
penetrate the experience of loss (of ability, bodily function, or a previous embodied
experience), trauma (in the form of a superficial wound, corporeal disturbance and/or
psychological distress) and adversity. The following chapters (4.1, 4.2) take up an historical
contextualization of artists who operate within a prosthetic metaphor as a means of exploring
these experiences.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 27

4.1
REBECCA HORN

Working within the Conceptual and Body Art movements of the 1960s and 1970s
German installation artist, Rebecca Horn exploits the entire physicality of the body. With an
oeuvre spanning several decades and largely characterized by kinetic structures and machines,
Horn continues to place importance on drawing and the drawing apparatus within her practice.
In 1968, after a long illness which kept the artist isolated and unable to leave the hospital, Horn
began creating body sculptures as a means of communicating her loneliness. Meditating on the
body’s paradoxical ability and inability to communicate, these prosthetic extensions provide
insight into the artist’s interpretation of the body as a limited, fragile system. Early works
representing physicality and vulnerability spoke to the artist’s interest in the body as an object
of manipulation, transformation and extension (Felton et al. 9). Often her figures are
restricted, bound or bandaged as a metaphor for the captive and disabled body, a theme
further enacted in her body sculptures and kinetic works. Exploring and pushing against
boundaries, whether physical or psychological, Horn employed images of amputation, bondage
and prosthetic extensions of extremities and other parts of the body. These alterations can be
read as metaphor for traumatic experience and though they are of an autobiographical nature,
Horn’s work has the capacity to bridge everyday life and art by placing familiar objects in
different contexts, allowing the viewer to consider their own bodily experience as an entry
point into her work.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 28

The nature of the prosthesis in Horn’s
work fits within the medical definition of bodily
extension however she uses artistic license to
further interpret the prosthetic device as a
metaphor for trauma, limitation and adversity.
There is both a desire to overcome loss and to
expose the sense of loss itself, intrinsically linked
to Horn’s personal experience of illness and
confinement. What transcends Horn’s practice is
a longing for communication, through the body
transformed. The medical bandages that acted as
Fig. 7 Rebecca Horn. Arm Extensions. 1968.
Fabric, wood and metal, 23.6 x 48.4 x 20.1 in.
Used by permission of the Tate Collection.

both healing support and bondage, transformed
into body sculptures like Arm Extensions [fig. 7],

which, when strapped onto the wearer’s extremities, render the limbs useless. The purposeful
binding of bodily movement and sensory perception can be interpreted as loss of
communication and a need to better understand the body. This in turn provides insight into
the artist’s themes of personal struggle and an incapability of fully sharing an embodied
experience.
The discourse of prosthesis within a medical context is one that generally
exhibits/manifests rehabilitation, empowerment, stability and mobility. While the appearance
of prostheses in Horn’s work is in direct conflict with the medical intention of prosthesis as
assistive or instrumental device, perhaps the artist’s intention is instead to consider the
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 29

enlarged limbs as a visual indication of the body in crisis and the examination of difference and
failures in our own bodies.
Working with a balance between body and
space, Handschuhfinger (Finger Glove) [fig. 8] extends
the physical presence of the body and creates an illusion
of interaction and touch. The artist performed one
instance of Finger Glove in Berlin, the sculptural
extensions scraping along opposite walls as she walked
back and forth the length of a room. The long wooden
finger-extensions on one hand allow the physical
boundaries of the body to be expanded, keeping the
wearer at a distance from a more intimate and direct
level of bodily touch. The failure of the prosthetic
extensions to convey the body’s sensory perception and
a restricted physicality speak to the failure of
interpersonal communication (Zweite 15) and recalls

Fig. 8 Rebecca Horn. Handschuhfinger
(Finger Glove). 1972. Metal, fabric,
wood, paper, card and photograph,
dimensions variable.
Used by permission of the Tate
Collection.

Merleau-Ponty’s stick, which in its function “conceals
the organic relationship between subject and world”
(Merleau-Ponty 176) and employs different bodily
perceptions.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 30

Bleistiftmaske (Pencil Mask) [fig. 9] is
an example of body sculpture employing
drawing elements, the artist wearing a
lattice mask covered in a web of twenty-one
protruding pencils. Swinging her body back
and forth, Horn became the instrument of a
drawing performance, creating a wall
drawing later described as a portrait of the
artist. The absence of the hand in this
particular work analyses the adaptability of
Fig. 9 Rebecca Horn. Bleistiftmaske (Pencil Mask).
1972. Pencils, metal, fabric, wood, paper, card and
framed photograph, dimensions variable.
Used by permission of the Tate Collection.

the body and the variety of mark-making
created by extending the body. The gesture
generated by the Pencil Mask is
uncomfortable and evokes painfulness in its

production. In conversation with Rebecca Horn, Joachim Sartorium of Berliner Festspeile, says,
“Don’t all the best things start with illness?” (Sartorium 189), interpreting Horn’s entire oeuvre
as an in-depth consideration of the body’s ability to react in a state of crisis in ways you never
thought it capable (189).

My specific interest in Horn’s practice is the appearance of prosthetic extension as
communicative device, whether through a drawing apparatus or body sculpture. Illness and
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 31

disability are themes which remain present throughout Horn’s practice. I am particularly drawn
to the autobiographical nature of the artist’s oeuvre, as communicating through the body must
invariably come from personal experience and investigation. Horn’s work finds a balance
between communication and isolation, separation and interaction, distance and intimacy. The
oppressive personal experience suffered by the artist was also the means through which Horn
generated extraordinary insight into the body, its limits, complexity and fragility.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 32

4.2
MATTHEW BARNEY

American artist Matthew Barney began working on various incarnations of Drawing
Restraint in 1987, with over 18 versions to date, all varying in their complexity, narrative
elements, staging and collaborative involvement. I am focusing on Drawing Restraints 1, 2 and
6 (1987-1989) and the performances’ relationship to examples of bodily extension. In an
interview with the Museum of Modern Art from the SFMOMA YouTube channel, Barney
expresses his interest in the body as a tool of creation, using his own body to develop a
relationship to, and express experience through the work (“Matthew Barney discusses his
influences”). Early in his career as an artist, Barney mined what he refers to as his profound
bodily experience as an athlete, training on the football field in high school, as a means of
accessing and inserting his body into his work. In athleticism training, Barney explains,
resistance is put against the body as means of breaking down muscle tissue in order to
encourage it to grow (“Origins of Drawing Restraint”).
Influenced by the Body Art movement of the 1960s and 70s and Performance
movements of the 1980s, specifically Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra, Barney
recognized his own physical form as a tool through which to develop an understanding of bodybased work. To work with the corpus in art and to express a sense of embodiment through art
is to return to the site and source of productivity and pleasure, adversity and trauma. To act
with and on the body can lead to different interpretations, understandings and sensibilities of
one’s own body. Recalling McLuhan’s definition of mediation, Grosz states: “Acting differently
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 33

also leads to being acted on differently – to sense differently, […] and inquiring into the limits
and transformability of biology itself” (200). Like Horn, Barney uses the experiential knowledge
of the body to inform the nature of the extension pursued in each variation of the Drawing
Restraint series. Through athleticism, Barney is investigating the capacity for his own
transformability and the restraints evolve in response to each previous experience.

Barney utilizes the physiology of body development through resistance as his medium.
The artist filmed Drawing Restraints 1 - 6 as performance works, jumping, reaching and lunging
against various self-restraints. Using various homemade drawing tools, Barney recorded the
often random marks as repeated evidence of overcoming adversity.
Reminiscent of the drawing performance Up To And Including Her Limits (1970) 6 by
multidisciplinary artist Carolee Schneeman, Drawing Restraints 1 - 6 emphasizes the artists’
self-imposed bodily struggles. While the artist’s body creates traces made on paper, the
drawing process also affects the body through transformation, physical traces on the skin’s
surface, or through physical exertion and exhaustion. As is the case with Schneeman and Horn,
Barney’s body becomes the instrument of the work itself.
The appearance of athleticism within Barney’s practice, however, highlights a machismo
that was not present in either Schneeman or Horn’s body-based performances. The repetition,
endurance, physicality and presence of the body in this series of work demonstrate both the
importance of the process of drawing more than the result (as in some cases where no

6

Partially suspended in a harness, artist Carolee Schneeman held crayons in her extended arm, moving
only as far as the harness would allow. The accumulation of colored marks acted as traces of a body in
motion on the large seamless paper backdrop.
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 34

drawings were produced as a result of the performance), and the triumph of the masculine
form.
The first in a series of performances, the set for Drawing Restraint 1 (1987) was
constructed in Barney’s Yale studio. Two slight inclines were constructed on either end of the
studio, with the point of resistance in the center of the floor. The artist strapped the elastic line
from the floor to his thighs, the first variation of a self-restraint. As Barney’s body moved away
from the center of the room up the incline, resistance increased, and drawings were generated
at the top of either slope and along the walls. Drawings from this performance were
diagrammatic, frantic and repetitive.
As an elaboration on
Drawing Restraint 1, Drawing
Restraint 2 (1988) [fig. 10]
involved steeper, more
challenging ramps. Using longer
and heavier tools to generate
drawings, Barney hoisted himself
Fig. 10 Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 2. 1988.
Documentary Photograph
Copyright Matthew Barney 1988
Photo: Michael Rees.
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.

on climbing holds, struggling
against his restraints. Drawing
Restraint 2 is described as
“mediation on the desire to make

a mark, and the discipline imposed on that [desire]” (Barney, Drawing Restraint). Finished
drawings were never produced, but the collection of marks generated in this performance
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 35

exemplifies the artist’s determination, endurance and struggle. Variations of this performance
included the artist wearing hockey skates, which undoubtedly would affect balance, grip and
the ability to use climbing holds placed around the set.

Fig. 11 Matthew Barney. Drawing Restraint 6. 1989/2004.
Documentation Photograph.
Copyright Matthew Barney 1988.
Photo: Michael Rees.
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.

Drawing Restraint 6 [fig. 11] differs from 1 and 2 in that there were no physical
restraints worn by the artist. The minimal set for the performance included a mini-trampoline,
fixed at a fifteen-degree angle. Using a simple drawing tool the artist recorded one mark on the
ceiling of the studio with every jump, and over the course of a day, the marks merged to form a
self-portrait. The angle of the trampoline creates a situation where Barney must repeatedly
reinvest the energy required to reach the ceiling.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 36

If we return for a moment to the definition of prosthesis set forth by Jain as a joining of
materials, Barney’s Drawing Restraint series continuously and variously explores the joining of
his body to the environment in which he performs, evidenced by the repetitive mark-making
both in the space and on drawing surfaces distributed through the space, demanding a
continuous physical exertion on the part of the artist and the body’s need to adapt to an
environment of limitation restraint. In the case of Drawing Restraint 2, the lack of finished
drawings speaks simultaneously to frustration and determination, the body’s ability to excel
even when in crisis, self-imposed or otherwise.

It is also important to mention Matthew Barney’s use of prostheses in collaboration
with double below-the-knee amputee Aimee Mullins in cycle 3 in his series of Cremaster films.
American Paralympian, model and activist, Mullins appears in this film wearing various
prostheses, symbolizing for Barney different stages of Masonic initiation rituals. In the film’s
final sequence, Mullins is shown wearing clear, anthropomorphic, tentacle prosthetic legs that
do not permit her to stand by herself, let alone walk. This was a compromise on the part of the
artist, having originally requested that Mullins be without any prosthesis, her residual limbs
exposed. Cremaster 3 (2002) has been criticized for its careless disembodied technofetishism,
the artist’s attempt to strip Mullins of her legs raising issues of vulnerability, intimacy and a
fetishization of the image of the amputee, a far cry from the prosthetic imperatives of
rehabilitation, empowerment and stability. As an amputee, Mullins has herself contributed to
the fetishistic discourse around prosthetic devices, having several interchangeable legs,
appearing on Alexander McQueen’s runway wearing a pair of intricately carved wooden legs.
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 37

Material removed due to
copyright restrictions.
Colour photograph of Aimee
Mullins wearing ‘C-legs’ with
double below-the-knee
amputee, engineer and rock
climber, Hugh Herr.
Photograph by Jill Greenberg for
the cover of the April 2009 issue
of WIRED Italy.
http://www.jillgreenberg.com/
Work/photos/covers#/28

Material removed due to
copyright restrictions.
Colour photograph of Aimee
Mullins sitting in a chair
wearing her ‘pretty legs.’
Photograph by Jill Greenberg
appeared in the April 2009
issue of WIRED Italy.
http://www.jillgreenberg.com/
names/show/aimeemullins/image/1

Fig. 12 (left) has been removed due to copyright restrictions. The information removed is Aimee
Mullins and Hugh Herr on the cover of WIRED Italy.
Jill Greenberg. Cover of Wired Italy: Evoluzione in Corso. April 2009. Jill Greenberg Studios. Web. 21
Nov. 2011.
Fig. 13 (right) has been removed due to copyright restrictions. The information removed is Aimee
Mullins, photographed by Jill Greenberg for Wired Italy.
Jill Greenberg. Aimee Mullins. April 2009. Jill Greenberg Studios. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.

Mullins presents herself to the public as a shape-shifting figure, each of her prosthetic
legs performing a different function, whether athletic (C-Legs)[fig. 12], cosmetic (dubbed ‘Pretty
Legs’)[fig. 13] or fetishistic (Barney’s cheetah woman)[fig. 14]. The ability to choose an identity,
whether fantastical or functional, gives Mullins more-than-human abilities, a figure in flux,
embracing opportunity. In a 2009 article for Wired Italy, she explains: “Adversity is just another
word for change. In society, we tend to put the negative connotation on it, we see it as ‘hard
times,’ but we could give ourselves the gift of re-imagining adversity as ‘change that we haven’t
adapted ourselves to yet’” (Mullins, “Splendidamente abile”). Most importantly in relation to
Barney’s practice, she embodies athleticism, physical strength and the artist’s desire in Drawing

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 38

Fig. 14 Aimee Mullins as a cheetah woman.
Matthew Barney, Cremaster 3, 2002
Production still  2002 Matthew Barney
Photo: Chris Winget
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.

Restraint to use the body as a tool of empowerment and determination, a true symbol for the
opportunities/possibilities presented through adversity.
The issue of prosthesis-as-metaphor, where ‘prosthesis’ is simply a symbol of something
else, whether loss, disability or body-machine interfaces, is that it misses the fact that the
prosthesis is itself an incredibly complex device. Art historian Marquard Smith writes of Mullins’
role in Cremaster 3 and the fetishization of prosthetics in his essay “The Vulnerable Articulate”
for The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future, that we need to
observe the shift between the animate and inanimate nature of the prosthetic, and “its effect
on our understanding of both the material and metaphorical prosthetic body” (67). The ability,

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 39

then, of artistic expression to undermine the preconceptions of what a prosthetic should be is
of great importance to the contemporary prosthetic conversation and the enhanced body: the
marginalized prosthetic minority and the prostheses’ historical representation of loss and
disability is beginning to break loose. Barney’s use of prosthetic imagery in Cremaster 3, as well
as Mullins’ endorsement of the fetishization of the different body plays directly into the
discourse around possibility, and a surpassing of existing human function.
In this investigation into the appearance of prostheses in artistic practice, I have had to
acknowledge various terms and potential problematic content. Historical and medical
definitions of the prosthesis have bound both the device and it’s visibility in social and cultural
contexts to a discourse surrounding disability, loss and trauma. Challenges from the prosthetic
community to engineer and design better prostheses, alongside the image of the improved,
modified human body has propelled the prosthesis toward a multitude of new possibilities and
metaphorizations of prosthesis as emergent technology. With figures such as Aimee Mullins
shattering the public perception of the disabled body, contemporary discourse surrounding
prosthesis-as-extension and prosthesis-in-art provide potential re-figuration.
Both Horn and Barney deal with direct experience of the body as a means of
understanding and coming to terms with the limitations and capabilities of the human form. As
is the case with both artists, the focus remains on bodily presence and the impulse to translate
expression. The role of technology acknowledges the attachment, connection and mediation
that exist in both the prosthetic metaphor and the expanded art practice. Without undermining
its traditional implications, I am interested in making visible various interpretations of the
prosthesis-as-extension and the prosthesis-as-metaphor.
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 40

I have discussed Rebecca Horn’s use of prosthetic imagery to uncover a sense of failed
communication and a self-imposed restriction of physical and sensory perception. The trauma
experienced by the artist, both psychologically and physically, contributed to an embodied
practice that explored and exposed a deep sense of failing and desire. What appeals to my
sensibilities is Horn’s confrontation of her corporeality and the need to express a movement
out, away and beyond it within her work. Through these expressions we, the viewers, are given
a momentary entry into her embodied experience and question the limitations of the body.
Matthew Barney used his athletic training to create a practice steeped in experiential
knowledge and adversity. The reiterative nature of Barney’s practice evokes the physical
brutality of athleticism, to break down and rebuild the body through repetition and obsession
with ritual. Though the work examined for the purpose of this paper is primarily performative –
the drawings created acting as rough indications of the actual work behind Drawing Restraint –
I am engaged with Barney’s thematic reference to adversity, the capacity for the body to
overcome and the way in which physical difficulty can manifest within an artistic context. This
theme reverberates with the appearance of Aimee Mullins in Cremaster 3, and my fascination
with her as a public figure factored greatly into the development of Beyond the Skin, the final
project addressed in the following chapter, and rounding out the second half of the dyad.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 41

4.3
FLESHED OUT

As an appendage of Under the Skin, Beyond the Skin takes up the exploration of
prosthetics in art. At the time of this writing, the project is on-going, the manifestation of
prosthesis-as-extension slowing evolving through my studio practice, and includes Fleshed Out
(working title), to be discussed in this chapter.

Aimee Mullins is a dynamic and engaging public figure, a poster-girl for beauty
campaigns (L’Oréal Paris) and the future of prosthetic possibilities. A double below-the-knee
amputee since early childhood, Mullins is responsible for envisioning and embodying a reality
which does not dwell on trauma and loss, but rather – and more importantly – on opportunity
and possibility. In a 2009 lecture for TED, a speaker series dedicated to sharing inspired ideas
about technology, entertainment and design, Mullins asked the audience to interpret an
innovative visualization of a body enhanced by prosthetics, stating: “People that society once
considered to be disabled can now become the architects of their own identities, and indeed
continue to change those identities by designing their bodies from a place of empowerment”
(Mullins, “12 Pairs of Legs”).
The potential to have power over the transformability of the body suddenly moves the
focus away from dys-ability toward super-ability, taking up a possible bodily reality devoid of
limitations and enlightened by expanded possibilities. It is beyond tantalizing to imagine
possessing the capacity to create and re-create one’s identity, to consider the body as a canvas
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 42

awaiting inspired ideas, and a physical appearance limited only by imagination. Mullins sets the
stage for these new possibilities, celebrating her body’s super-ability with twelve different pairs
of prosthetic legs, equally varied in appearance and purpose. Ranging from more traditional
imperatives of form and function to impractical yet aesthetically astounding examples of body
extensions, Mullins has become the architect of her collection of identities.
Fleshed Out, while still in its early stages of realization, expands upon Mullins’ prosthetic
prerogative for corporeal re-formation to explore through an artistic praxis the ways in which
the prosthesis might affect the body. The exchange of previous perceptions of the disabled
body for one which might engage with possibility and potential opens a creative avenue
through which to negotiate the image of the prosthesis. Every individual connects with the
body and becomes embodied in different ways. Corporeal perception establishes how an
individual acts in the world and on the body. More than just a change in outward appearance,
what Mullins implies through the interchangeability of her limbs is an essential re-formation of
the body and a continuous re-interpretation of an embodied existence.
According to philosopher and social theorist Brian Massumi, “the body’s obsolescence
is the condition of change” (Massumi qtd. in Fernandez 107). The idea of obsolescence might
initially suggest a disappearance or death of the body; however it could also be understood as a
more fluid concept allowing for expanded possibilities of corporeal appearance. With the
limitations and boundaries of our bodies yet undetermined, taking into consideration
Massumi’s concept of the body as “obsolete” might prove to be the catalyst for greater
embodied awareness and at the very least begin to shift the notions of our human abilities.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 43

If corporeal obsolescence is the condition of change and the inevitable evolving nature
of the body expanded by technology, Mullins embodies the obsolete. Whether donning a pair
of Barbie-like cosmetic legs, extending her height to a statuesque 6’1”, or sporting Swedish
engineered “C-legs,” modeled for greater agility and speed, Aimee Mullins is ‘able’ to adapt to
her surroundings, conditions and desires. With the evolution of the body as a compelling point
of departure, and the consideration of corporeal extensions and expansion through technology,
the prosthesis as an object might be seen to exist in mutual relationship to the body:
“’Body’ and ‘thing,’ and by extension ‘body’ and ‘object,’ exist only as implicated
in each other [and] are extensions of each other […] Things and objects are
literally, materially, prosthetic organs of the body. But if bodies and objects exist
only as implicated in each other, in necessary and useful reciprocity, then isn’t it
just as accurate to say that the body is literally, materially, an organ of its
things?” (Massumi 95)
The appeal of Massumi’s perspective is in breaking-down a long-standing assumption
that the prosthetic’s role is to replace something missing. The mediation of the prosthetic
‘object’ to the body acknowledges the continued susceptibility of each to modification and
adaptation in the other. In light of this, what bodily modifications will evolve through a creative
investigation into different prosthetic adaptations? Fleshed Out takes up and challenges the
perception of a previous bodily whole, allowing the body to be interpreted as prosthetic, and
the site for radical experimentation.
When first conceiving of Fleshed Out, several issues plagued my imagination: how to
approach the subject matter delicately, to be considerate yet alluring, to let go of my own
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 44

bodily perceptions, to be wary of fetishizing different bodies. Determined early in the process,
these works would not be traditional portraits. Writing notes in the margins of my sketchbook, I
began by considering Mullins as a public figure, a private life, a commodity, an inspiration and a
muse: in what way could the discourse of change manifest within my artistic practice?
Massumi’s compelling argument for the mediated relationship of body and prosthetic began
revealing concepts and drawings informed by both practical knowledge and fictional, imagined
representations. With multiple examples of prosthetics, each unique in form and function, the
challenge became imagining how the body – any body – would adapt, extend, and modify itself
to reciprocate the appearance or role of a prosthesis, and ultimately become something else.
As I work through various iterations of extensions, adaptations, and enhancements,
each drawing brings forward different considerations, as though they grow out or mutate from
the last. The intention is to create a series of drawings, each taking into consideration a
different example of prosthesis. However, the longer I reflect on this intention and the more
studies generated, the further I am drawn into the possibility for infinite conceptions of bodily
representation. The anthropomorphic tentacle prosthetics worn in Barney’s Cremaster 3 might
lend itself to a body that could pulsate and float lazily like a jellyfish through open water; it is
equally possible to imagine an overly-articulated figure, its many extremities extending in all
directions, groping through a tactile experience of the world. And what of invisible prosthetics –
buried in the body but still capable of altering corporeal perception? Perhaps an even greater
project has begun to emerge?
Artistic expression sets in motion a redefinition of prosthetic metaphor, giving over to
phantasy and unlimited potential to recreate the body and therefore also redefine possible
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 45

embodied knowledge. If the prosthetic is no longer required to stand-in for loss and trauma,
and instead opens, expands, and enhances the body, dys-ability is sequestered to the furthest
reaches of creativity. In writing this, I cannot help but wonder whether I am overlooking
prosthetic realities for a more pleasurable, grander corporeal future, fetishizing the superhuman and enhanced body. I choose instead to take a page from Mullins’s autobiography,
engendering a poetic approach and exposing imperfections and differences as opportunity in
the face of adversity.
Fleshed Out has begun to mutate into many more instances as I continue to explore the
body/technology relationship. This prospect both excites and overwhelms: possibilities multiply
and bodies morph; rather than achieving clarity of subject, new shapes evolve and distort,
giving rise to even more complex corporeal considerations. While this project points to the
development of new, fantastical prostheses – and occasionally appear within drawings as
prosthetic eyes, hearts or limbs – what has begun to surface is a tenuous relationship between
the physical body and its environment. Embodied knowledge results from a unified mind and
body, and experience is a product of being in the world. Where, then, does the body end and
the world begin? The studies and drawings produced so far incorporate the fleshy palette of the
body and insinuate realism through attention to detail, yet the origin of the subject matter
remains obscure. What I am attempting to achieve is a sensorial experience that questions
what is real: what is flesh and what is not?
Though this project takes up different considerations than those explored in Under the
Skin, there is a consistency in its materiality – the use of watercolour lending free-flowing and
malleable applications – the appeal of bodily representation – its presence and absence – and
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 46

the desire to capture fluid, fluctuating corporeal manifestations. As another line of inquiry,
Beyond the Skin attempts to visualize difference and multiple interpretations of embodied
knowledge. In a cultural moment which acknowledges the adaptability and shifting nature of
the body, and recognizes the mediation between body and technology, or body and object, my
intention for this project is to articulate the blurring boundaries of human existence. As I
continue to engage in new artistic avenues and interpretations of the body, Fleshed Out has
become a pursuit toward greater embodied perception, dissolution of the dys-abled stereotype
and the discovery of corporeal representations that may exist beyond the limits of the skin.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 47

5
SUMMARY

Embodiment begins with the everyday attunement and experience of physicality.
Corporeal consciousness can enlighten bodily presence; trauma and pain inflicted on the body
highlights an absence that has the capacity to be replaced with greater knowledge and
awareness. Contemporary illuminations of the body in flux, the blurred boundaries of both
physical capacities and realities enabled by the proliferation of technology and enhanced
capabilities, complicates an already mysterious experience of the body with an even greater
open-endedness of embodied perception. Within the limited scope of this thesis project, it has
been my on-going intention to probe the measured personal experience of bodily trauma and
pain, to be in dialogue with an unfolding understanding of the body and to envision its potential
for adaptation and expansion.
Engaged with various drawing processes, I continue to explore the body through a
material approach. By drawing on specific media, like the fluidity of watercolour, to enable a
visceral response, generating a more palpable, fleshly visualization of the body, I attempt to
provide an occasion for embodiment. Accessing my own bodily knowledge and exploring
images which illicit experience of a sensorial nature, I continuously push the boundaries of
un/familiarity.
The first of two projects explored in this paper (Under the Skin) is propelled by moments
of embodiedness concealed just beneath the skin’s surface. The wound and corporeal pain has
the capacity to reconnect and make conscious the disappearing body: in an altered state, what

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 48

was once a disembodied experience rises to awareness and becomes embodied. Though this
project takes up the wounded body as a means of accessing physicality, it is offered as only one
possibility through which to consider a common instance of corporeal awareness.
Furthering my engagement with embodied knowledge and representation, I also
examine through an artistic practice the appearance of prosthetics in art, as both extensions of
and attachments to the body (Beyond the Skin). The artists considered in this paper helped
uncover a second, equally enticing investment in the body, enhanced by technology. Through
an expanded understanding of technology as both tool and concept, I work through different
interpretations of how a body, extended, becomes modified and mutated by its various
technological attachments.
Though the projects examined within this paper developed differently, both are
propelled by the desire to explore the body and embodied knowledge. The work created
throughout this investigation, regardless of the project, sets out with the intention to elicit a
physical response of attraction and repulsion, familiarity and ambiguity, in an attempt to access
the commonality of corporeal experience. As the philosophical and theoretical component of
this research draws to a close, I anxiously anticipate what my continued studio practice can
further reveal about the body. While the impulse to return to textual references for inspiration
remains, the lure of the studio as the locus of my praxis, will ultimately lead to an ongoing
revitalization of making as a means of revealing.
The challenge of the thesis project has been to let go of the old methods of working, of
carefully planning and neatly executing my ideas, and release a more vulnerable and intimate
response to my subject matter that takes up research in new ways. An embodied art practice
Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 49

facilitates equal measures of intellect and emotion, their unity a direct result of having and
engaging with the body. Though poetics in language do not always come to me with ease, I am
compelled by the possibility for poetics to influence and infiltrate my studio practice. This
project will continue to be personal, emotional and expansive. The subject of the body
continuously brings into focus my experiences, a fallibility and mutability which only heightens
an impulse to dig deeper and grasp the elusiveness of bodily knowledge.

Under and Beyond (The Skin) … 50

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