Classifying the body in Marlene Dumas' The Image as Burden

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-70
Author(s):  
Anthea Gordon

Medical photography, and in particular dermatological imagery, is often assumed to provide an objective, and functional, representation of disease and that it can act as a diagnostic aid. By contrast, artistic conceptions of the images of the body tend to focus on interpretative heterogeneity and ambiguity, aiming to create or explore meaning rather than enact a particular function. In her 2015 retrospective exhibition at the Tate Modern, South African artist Marlene Dumas questions these disciplinary divides by using medical imagery (among other photographic sources) as the basis for her portraits. Her portrait ‘The White Disease’ draws on an unidentified photograph taken from a medical journal, but obscures the original image to such a degree that any representation of a particular disease is highly questionable. The title creates a new classification, which reflects on disease and on the racial politics of South Africa during apartheid. Though, on the one hand, these techniques are seemingly disparate from the methods of medical understanding, features such as reliance on classification, and attempts at dispelling ambiguity, bring Dumas’ work closer to the history of dermatological portraits than would usually be perceived to be the case. In considering the continuities and disparities between conceptualisations of skin in dermatology and Dumas’ art, this paper questions assumptions of photographic objectivity to suggest that there is greater complexity and interpretative scope in medical dermatological images than might initially be assumed.

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Symes

Soon after he was consecrated bishop in 963, Æthelwold of Winchester (909–84) began to promulgate a series of new rules for worship and religious life in the monasteries of England. In one passage that is well known to theatre historians, Æthelwold insisted on the following performance of the Easter morning liturgy.While the third lesson is being read aloud, four of the brothersshould dress themselves.One of them, wearing an alb,should come in as though intent on other businessand gostealthilyto the place of the sepulchre, and therehe should sit quietly….The three remaining brothers …should make their way slowly and haltingly, coming before the place of the sepulchreas if they are seeking something. For these things are done in imitation of the angel seated on the tomb and of the women coming with perfumes to anoint the body of Jesus.When, therefore, the one sitting there sees the three drawing near, who are still wandering aboutas though seeking something, he should begin to singsweetly, in amoderatevoice: “Whom do you seek?”


Author(s):  
ARTHUR MATEVOSYAN

In the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church there is a dogmatic document of exceptional clarity and integrity in which its doctrine is set forth as a complete system. We mean 10 anathemas adopted in 726 A.D. by by the ecclesiastical council of Manazkert. This council was convened by the leaders of the Armenian and the Syrian Jacobite churches-Catholicos John of Odzun and Patriarch Athanasius of Antioch in order to overcome doctrinal differences between them. According to this anathemas, the dogmatic system of the Armenian Church can be described as follows. God is the Holy Trinity that has three Persons and one nature, and the Persosns are equally perfect. The one Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Son, incarnated Ban and became a perfect man, who had all the qualities of human nature- soul, body and mind. The human nature, accepted by Christ, was sinful and mortal like the nature of every human being. Christ had one, but not sole, divine nature. Between divine and human natures of Christ existed ontological, and not only moral connection. Christ's humanity, although it was not naturally incorruptible, was incorruptible owing to its unspeakable unity with divine nature. Christ suffered voluntarily, and not by the natural necessity. Christ was consubstantial by divinity to the Father, and by humanity to S. Virgin and all the people. The body of Christ was incorruptible since birth to resurrection. The Council of Manazkert made the doctrine of the Armenian Church solid and perfect system. It is important to note that the doctrine of the Armenian Church is quite unique, and does not coincide with doctrines of other Churches. The decisions of the Council of Manazkert still retain their importance for the Armenian Church.


Author(s):  
Simukai Chigudu

Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic of 2008/09 is almost unrivalled, in scale and lethality, in the modern history of the disease. The disease infected nearly 100,000 people, claiming over 4000 lives over a ten-month period. This chapter examines the political and economic origins of the outbreak and analyses some of the meanings, memories, and narratives that the outbreak has left in civic life. It makes three key arguments. First, it contends that the origins, scale, and impact of the cholera outbreak were overdetermined by a multilevel failure of Zimbabwe’s public health system, itself a consequence of the country’s post-2000 political conflicts and economic crisis. Second, by recounting stories of the relentless suffering and dispossession that accompanied the cholera outbreak the chapter reveals how the disease mapped onto and exacerbated the contours of abandonment, abjection, and exclusion within Zimbabwean society. Third, the chapter ultimately argues that cholera emerged from prolonged and multiscalar political-economic processes for which no short-term or easy solutions are available. While the outbreak aroused public anger and outrage at the government for its causal role in the epidemic and the inadequacy of its relief efforts, this anger did not translate into any effective political mobilization or permanent change. Thus, the politics of cholera, in its making and aftermath, show the grim and profound consequences of state transformation for public health and for notions of belonging in the body politic.


Author(s):  
Melissa Ragona

This article appears in the Oxford Handbook of Sound and Image in Digital Media edited by Carol Vernallis, Amy Herzog, and John Richardson. By examining a brief history of several sound production technologies that preceded Auto-Tune, this essay suggests that a “doping of the voice” occurred—an elusive phenomenon hidden by industry engineers, but amplified by artists who sought to make the voice as pliable and sounding as the instruments that often accompanied it. On the one hand, the dope dealt by the commercial sound industry resembled expensive designer drugs—technologies that promised to make one both sound as well as look better (e.g., early dubbing for film, double-tracking for music). On the other hand, a doping of the voice was practiced by experimental artists (Yoko Ono, Charlemagne Palestine, Hollis Frampton) in order to dirty the voice’s narrative context: grinding its phonemic elements, challenging its purity as signature of the body, and wresting it away from any kind of philosophical or psychological interiority.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 79-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew McCormack

ABSTRACTHeight is rarely taken seriously by historians. Demographic and archaeological studies tend to explore height as a symptom of health and nutrition, rather than in its own right, and cultural studies of the human body barely study it at all. Its absence from the history of gender is surprising, given that it has historically been discussed within a highly gendered moral language. This paper therefore explores height through the lens of masculinity and focuses on the eighteenth century, when height took on a peculiar cultural significance in Britain. On the one hand, height could be associated with social status, political power and ‘polite’ refinement. On the other, it could connote ambition, militarism, despotism, foreignness and even castration. The article explores these themes through a case-study of John Montagu, earl of Sandwich, who was famously tall and was frequently caricatured as such. As well as exploring representations of the body, the paper also considers corporeal experiences and biometric realities of male height. It argues that histories of masculinity should study both representations of gender and their physical manifestations.


1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Kargon

“The Office of the sense shall be the only judge of the experiment, and … the experiment itself shall judge of the thing.”Francis Bacon, The Great InstaurationThe first history of the Royal Society of London, published in 1667, and the most recent full study of that scientific organization published three centuries later, agree on one important point: that Sir Francis Bacon was the intellectual progenitor of the body, that in the denigrating words of a contemporary critic the Society was “Bacon-faced.” The author of the former, Thomas Sprat, termed Bacon the “one great Man, who had the true Imagination of the whole extent of this Enterprise,” and in “whose Books there are every where scattered the best arguments that can be produced for the defence of Experimental Philosophy.” The author of the latter, Margery Purver, agrees that “Bacon was the great formative influence on the Society's concept of science.”Yet it must be conceded at once that Bacon's legacy was ambiguous. While the early Royal Society indeed was Bacon-faced, “it saw many faces of Bacon.” The period after the founding of the Society, the 1660's and 1670's, was one of contending philosophies and of a continuing effort to fashion clearer notions of what an experimental philosophy was to be like and what role experience was to play in scientific argument. Two of the more important and influential members of the Society who were actively engaged in this pursuit were Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke; these men were, and saw themselves, as disciples of the Lord Chancellor. It is my intention here to illustrate the differing approaches to the Baconian legacy of Boyle and of Hooke by focusing attention upon an interesting analogy, used by both, which may aid us in interpreting the conception of experiment in the works of these two founders of the experimental philosophy.


Author(s):  
Martin P. Botha

THE HERITAGE OF FILM: PERSPECTIVE ON FLEMISH CINEMA AND FILM CULTURE THROUGH SOUTH AFRICAN EYES I assisted the Locarno Film festival in 2005 with a retrospective of short films by young South African directors. There I met a very talented, young Flemish director, whose film was by far the best in the one section.(1) It moved me immensely with its honest portrait of alienation and racial discrimination. We had a long discussion on film history, aesthetics and film cultures. We also talked about the history of film in Belgium and it was noted that while the French speaking side of Belgian cinema had recently received international acclaim (for example, the work by the Dardenne Brothers), Flemish cinema was struggling. In fact, the young filmmaker made the statement that there was little to be excited about in the history of Flemish cinema. He felt especially that the films about...


Author(s):  
Robin Wright

Resumo Este trabalho explora os significados de “Corpo” e “Espírito” em relação a um dos mais importantes personagens na cosmologia Hohodene, o espírito “Guardião da Doença e da Magia”, chamado Kuwai [“Yurupary”, em língua geral]. Este Grande Espírito é uma síntese extraordinariamente complexa da visão Hohodene (e de outros Baniwa, povos falantes do Arawak setentrional). Ele é o “coração/ alma” do seu pai, o Criador Nhiaperikuli, o que implica que ele não é um ser material. O corpo de seu “Espírito” é permeado por buracos, por onde a respiração de sua alma produz uma grande variação de sons, melodias e canções. Todos esses sons, eventualmente, se tornaram canções ancestrais primordiais produzidas por flautas; muitos deles referentes a animais primordiais, peixes ou cantos de pássaros intrinsecamente conectados aos valores e processos reproduzidos pela sociedade Hohodene: parentesco vs afins, feitiçaria contra curandeiros, os primeiros antepassados (que ainda não estavam plenamente humanos) e suas relações. De maneira geral, o Corpo-espírito de Kuwai, depois transformado pelo Pai Criador Nhiaperikuli em flautas e trompetes musicais e sacros, pode ser entendido como os meios de reproduzir a “sociedade” e o “universo”. Além do mais, este trabalho explora “o corpo musical do universo” dos Hohodene. Som e visão são propositalmente conectados como os principais geradores de vida os quais dão princípio e eternamente reproduzirão o mundo. Em minha interpretação, eu busco desvelar as múltiplas camadas de significados relacionadas a esta figura ao utilizar de exegeses nativas que conectam narrativas, representações gráficas (incluindo petroglifos), curas xamânicas e visões, geografia sagrada e cantos sacros. Eu espero mostrar que as noções Hohodene de Self, Cosmos, Ontologia e História estão entrelaçadas em uma abrangente multiplicidade de seres vivos em um ínico material e espiritual “Corpo”. O corpo de Kuwai é considerado o corpo do universo, em que os mundos material e espiritual estão intimamente entrelaçados. Assim, as relações com o mundo espiritual, como as relações com o mundo dos brancos, ou as relações com a categoria de estranhos dentro da sociedade (ou seja, os feiticeiros) são igualmente partes da historicidade indígena no sentido mais básico da palavra, que é a reprodução da sociedade e cosmos no tempo e no espaço. Sociedade não consiste apenas em parentelas (neste caso, fratrias exogâmicas), mas também “outros grupos”, a alteridade, povos fora do círculo de parentelas. A história sagrada para os Baniwa, como lembrado em narrativas e pinturas rupestres, confunde-se com os processos reais e eventos, tais como relações interétnicas com os brancos, e a história das acusações de feitiçaria que deram origem a movimentos proféticos desde o século XIX.  Abstract This paper explores the meanings of “Body” and “Spirit” in relation to one of the most important personages in Hohodene cosmology, the spirit “Owner of Sickness and Sorcery”, named Kuwai. {“Yurupary” in general language] This Great Spirit is an extraordinarily complex synthesis of the Hohodene (and other Baniwa, northern Arawak-speaking peoples) worldview. He is the “heart/ soul” of his father, the Creator Nhiaperikuli, implying that he was not a material being. His spirit “Body” was full of holes from which the breath of his soul produced a very large range of sounds, melodies, and song. All of these sounds eventually became primordial ancestral songs produced by material flutes; many of them refer to primor- dial animal, fish, or birdsongs intrinsically connected to core values and processes reproduced in Hohodene society: kinship vs affines, sorcery vs healers, the first ancestors (who were not yet fully human) and their relations. Taken as a who- le, the spirit-Body of Kuwai, later transformed by the Creator Father Nhiaperikuli into sacred musi- cal flutes and trumpets, can be understood as the means for reproducing ‘society’ and the ‘universe’. Thus, this paper explores the Hohodene “musical body of the universe”. Sound and vision are purposefully connected as the principal life-forces that gave rise to, and will eternally reproduce the world. In my interpretation, I seek to unravel multiple layers of meaning related to this figure by utilizing native exegeses that connect narratives, graphic representations (including petroglyphs), shamanic cures and visions, sacred geography, and sacred chants. I hope to show that Hohode- ne notions of Self, Cosmos, Ontology, and History are intertwined in an all-encompassing multiplicity of living entities into one material and spiritual “Body”. The body of Kuwai is considered the body of the universe, in which the material and spiritual worlds are inextricably interwoven. Thus, relations with the spirit-world, like relations with the world of white men, or relations with the category of outsiders within society (i.e., the sorcerers) are all equally parts of indigenous historicity in the most basic sense of the word, that is, the reproduction of society and cosmos in time and space. Society consists not only of kingroups, (in this case, exogamous phratries), but also, “other groups”, alterity, peoples outside the circle of kingroups. Sacred history for the Baniwa, as remembered in narratives and petroglyphs, is intertwined with actual processes and events such as interethnic relations with the Whites, and the history of sorcery accusations which have given rise to prophet movements ever since the 19th century.   


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Joan Alkema

This dissertation was researched in two main parts. The first enquiry was to establish whether the Afrikaner women practised any form of craft during their time of interment in the Anglo-Boer War concentration camps, during 1899-1902. The second part explores the appropriation of craft within the Post-Modern context by five South African artists. During this research into the craft practises of Afrikaner women in the concentration camps, I discovered that this particular issue has not been satisfactorily documented. The reasons for this are directly connected to the patriarchal system of the Calvinist Afrikaner. The impact which this system had on the craft practices of Afrikaner women and the lack of documentation thereof, are discussed. The paucity of information on Afrikaner women‟s history led to primary research where I gained the information I needed from the descendents of interned women. The findings of this research includes various forms of needlecraft such as embroidery, quilting, crocheting, and dress and bonnet making. Amongst the artefacts found were two ceramic dogs made in the camp. Various forms of tin and wire artefacts were also found. The contribution to the impoverished Afrikaner women by Hobhouse, the South African Agricultural Association and the South African Women‟s Federation is explained in relation to this dissertation. The freedom that Post-Modern thought created amongst artists enabled them to explore exciting ways of executing their art. The five South African artists whose work I chose to explore are Billy Zangewa, Sue Pam-Grant, Gina Waldman, Antionette Murdoch and Nirmi Ziegler. Their art practices are varied but the common denominator is the incorporation of various forms of traditional feminine craft into their work. They subvert the patriarchal order, draw attention to land issues, explore women‟s fragility and raise awareness concerning the abuse of the environment. I conducted an interview with Ziegler and relied on written documentation for the research concerning the other artists. I also made use of my own analysis and instinct as a woman and mother to interpret some works. As an Afrikaner woman I execute my work by using traditional feminine craft and specific motives found during my research. I deliver commentary on the lack of vi documentation of all of Afrikaner women‟s history. I use myself as an example of an Afrikaner woman and document my own history within the greater Afrikaner history which is contained and embedded within the history of South Africa. My research into and documentation of the craft practises of Afrikaner women during and directly after the Anglo-Boer War adds to the body of knowledge concerning the history of Afrikaner women. The same applies to the work of the five artists I explored. The diversity of material, concept and execution of their work will add some knowledge to the existing body of knowledge about their work, but more so to the documentation of women's history.


1930 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 198-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Witt

Probably no philosopher of antiquity has occasioned more daring speculations and the expression of graver doubts than Posidonius. On the one hand it has been argued that he was purely a man of science and hardly a Stoic philosopher at all. On the other hand he has been called the first and greatest Stoic mystic who under Oriental influence spurned the body as vile and earthly. Reinhardt has of late years resolutely maintained that the importance of Posidonius in the history of thought lies in his having originated a completely new Vitalism, and that his conception of the world is one in which ‘Subjekt und Objekt, Geist und Wissen, Mensch und Gott, νος und ζω durch eine im Bewusstsein neu erwachte Kraft sich einen und durchdringen: durch die “Sympathie.”’ Among other German scholars Geffcken holds that Plotinus borrowed much from Posidonius, and Jaeger roundly declares that if Posidonius had but found a place for the Platonic Ideas, there would have been nothing left for Plotinus to find. Schmekel and Bréhier have both stated that modifying the Platonic Theory of Ideas Posidonius established an identification between the Ideas and the Spermatic Logoi of Stoicism.


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