Critique through the Skin
Wafaa Bilal’s and Counting…
Nøgleord:
Skin, Body art, Tattoo, War, Subjectivity, Politics, ImperialismResumé
Skin, one of the crucial components of body art performances, is indispensable to Wafaa Bilal’s durational performance and Counting… (2010). This article proposes to analyze the semiotics of the skin as a pivotal component of this truly unique artwork, in which the artist merges durational performance art with the act of tattooing. The essay clarifies how Bilal reveals unexpected avenues for thinking about racism and American imperialism, as well as the traumatic effects of global violence by resorting to vulnerability and pain as aesthetic devices. The skin of the artist acts as an interface between the public, the artist, and the deceased of the war in Iraq to produce a reflection on life and loss. Drawing on phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and performance studies, among other things, the analysis examines the potential for performance to generate forms of intersubjective exchange. Bridging the ever-expanding field of skin studies with performance studies and art history, this article theorizes how artistic interpretations of wars may deploy the personal as universal, connecting seemingly remote cultural contexts and relating the history of global violence to the Western public.
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Websites
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