I first saw this image a couple of
weeks ago. It emerged on my Facebook feed amongst the general chatter of my
friends, family, and colleagues. I immediately saved the image, but neglected
to take note of who/what entity had posted it. In preparation for this post, I
set about some internet snooping, but was unable to find the original poster or
the origin of the image. I don’t know what it’s called. According to a post on
Goodreads.com, the quote “the
Church says: the body is a sin. Science says: the body is a machine. Advertising says: The body is a business.
The Body says: I am a fiesta” is borrowed from
Eduardo Hughes Galeano’s folkloric work Walking
Words (1997). I
haven’t read the book and a brief survey of friends says I don’t know anyone
who has. So the origins of the image elude me.
Last semester I spent a good portion of my intellectual time
investigating discourses of the body, health, and science. Many of my readings
sought to dismantle the body as machine metaphor while others worked to position
the body outside of business (especially the American diet industry), but none
of the readings established a new metaphor for the body, nor was I able to
string one together myself. Maybe this is not important. Maybe establishing a
new metaphor is dangerous. But I like metaphors. And I really like this one.
The image itself is a striking one. The subject, who appears
to be at least biologically female, stands completely nude but for gauged ear
plugs, a septum piercing, and a set of nipple rings, and the quote, which
appears to be black magic marker or a grease pencil. There is no hair on her
body. She seems to be standing in some sort of salutatory pose. Her nakedness
seems to draw on the tradition of nudity in art wherein her body, and perhaps
her truth, is revealed, rather than concealed. Viewers are called to celebrate her
body while simultaneously challenged to critique traditional readings of the
body.
She reminds me of George Lucas’ THX 1138, which portrays a future dystopia full of androids that
force humans to suppress all emotions and sexual desires. The human characters
are dressed in sterile white uniforms. There is no hair on their bodies. The
image here seems to at once acknowledge its oppression through suppression (her
shaved head), but resists it through her body piercings, which can be viewed as
forms of self-expression, rebellion, and in some cases expressions of sexuality.
Questions I’m thinking about include:
- What does it mean for the subject of this image to be female? How would the image be different if the subject was male?
- The words across her body claim that her body is a FIESTA, but the image seems cool, withdrawn, and sparse. Her look is not one of fiesta. Instead, she appears defiant, if somehow sad. What do we make of this dissonance? (I’m really not sure what I think it means or represents)
You and I have images of the body in two different depictions. I wonder, in connection to your second question, if the claim that her body is a FIESTA can be more complicated when asked: Whose fiesta? And I suppose that would tie into your first question as well. I wonder if we could also situate her shaved head in the realm of rebellion and self expression... think Britney? This image is very striking, and I have seen it before. Probably on Facebook? For me it rings in the area of oppression and potentially trafficking of the body, especially from the "the body is a business" section.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point - I am not sure what role ownership of the body (or fiesta) play here. The quote seems to position the body as an autonomous object that owns itself but without relation to the person who lives in the body. The body says "I," not we, or she, or Heather.
ReplyDeleteToo, head shaving for women always seems to resonate more with Burkean scapegoating and mortification, especially if we consider Britney who was reported to have lost her mind and shaved her head because her life was spinning out of control. There are a lot of cultural codes surrounding women and their hair (especially women of color) and that might be an interesting topic to explore further in this class. Thanks for the comment :)
This is a pretty striking image. I also see the woman's facial gesture as defiant, but not so sad. She seems pretty in control, as if she is saying, you can label my body however you want, but it's always a party in here. A fiesta is a celebration, so maybe she is saying she celebrates her body and doesn't put limits on it. She can shave her head and pierce her body, make it festive. I wonder what she is doing with her her right hand though. It does look like she is saluting, but her finger position reminds me of a Buddhist hand gesture.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find intriguing about the image is how it demonstrates text can have multiple meanings: how we can look at one "body" of work and interpret it so differently. This images somehow speaks of ideologies and ways we believe a text should work or function.
ReplyDeleteThinking of Berger's report of the relationship between photographer and photographed, the choices made when assembling the photo (piercings, shaved head, focus of body)does seem to constrain and limit my interpretation of this body. I do wonder how these words/quotes would speak on not only a man, but a woman more modest,which I think is possible even if naked.
After our discussion of this image on Tuesday, I wanted to return with an opinion I didn't get to voice during class. Martha mentioned that the model is standing like a badass, but I see her pose differently. One arm placed in an unnatural pose, the other hanging limply at her side, the thousand yard stare in her eyes, her bald head: she's posed like a mannequin. The church, science, and advertising have molded the upper-half of the model's body to be a caricature of "a body."
ReplyDeleteThen we have the line break separating institutions and the body. The body says "I AM A FIESTA." While I can see that this quote being from a man as an exercise in irony, I'd like to offer an alternate reading. The fact that the quote takes place below the line break implies that the rest of the model's body is free, currently uninhibited by the church, science, and advertising. THE body, not MY body, declares itself a fiesta. THE body speaks for all bodies, male and female, making the quote and photo an exercise in inclusivity rather than irony.