Exhibitions 2000-2001
September 21 - October 28, 2000
Thick Skinned
Suzy Lake, Glynis Humphrey, and Lisa Deanne Smith
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| Effacil, 1995 Duration: 2:30 min. single channel video |
Artist/physician Eric Fong describes the skin as "a liminal space, a threshold of demarcation, permeability, violation, and regeneration."1 As such, the skin is a gateway to the body, one which negotiates a passage of elements in and out. It is the site of pleasure and pain, of beauty and ugliness. In scaring, the skin does not forget, in healing it forgives, and in aging it marks the passage of time.
In developing a 'thick skin,' one consciously undertakes an act to render oneself impervious, less vulnerable, and more resistant to external forces. In Thick Skinned, Glynis Humphrey, Suzy Lake, and Lisa Deanne Smith use their own skin as both performative site and visual image. In so doing, each cultivates a thick skin upon which they define, defy, and challenge their own histories-specifically Western European histories-cognizant of the female body as a politicized, problematized, and contested site of meaning. While their work is informed by feminist history and theory, it is inspired by personal experience. This experience, as evidenced in their art, conveys a belief in the skin's regenerative ability, and in that of art to embody the potential for growth, transformation, and renewal.
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| Suzy Lake, Fascia#3 , 2000 black and white coppertoned photo emulsion, thread |
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| Lisa Deanne Smith, Pattern Series (Bed Room) , 1999 cibachrome print |