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The body as a stage

The fact that the body is a stage, and fragile surface, whose wounds heal, but do not disappear, has inspired cultures worldwide. The subconscious echoing of the first incidental discovery that everybody in this world has made; the one that people know, but do not remember, the trial that resulted in unexpected error… when the skin, the outer limit of our tactile senses, was revealed to break open and bleed. The slow, painful scar that followed, the echoing of the discovery, echoing every time our gaze settles upon that first scar, the eerie fascination with the corporeal condition, the rules it implies, the traces experience can leave on one’s body. This memory, the condition it revealed, has inspired people all around the globe, and breathed its way into their most sacred rites. Ritualistic scaring, making an action visible, tracing its beginning and end on the body, marking a moment, and embedding a memory deep into the conscious mind is a practice that is probably as old as t...

Posted by: Andres Cisneros

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