A human obsession

So far I have researched a range of body ideals throughout history and into the present day. What has grabbed my attention and interest is this idea of beauty/body ideals turning into something uncomfortable, tipping over the edge away from beauty and becoming something perhaps uncomfortable to look out, blurring boundaries of both beauty image and also physical boundaries of the body.


In my research into this idea I started to look at scarification among tribes in Ethiopia, in comparison to body modification in the culture we live in. Their body modification, although pushing the boundaries of skin and natural human form, is actually centred around social ideals, but is explored through their physical bodies.  A scar or lip disk signifies age and social position, but in our culture plastic surgery tries to hide age, not embrace it. I will explore these ideas through clothing on the body. I am fascinated by the fact that across cultures, even with different meanings surrounding the body, humans will always want to change their skins surface and the flesh underneath. 

"The body is... a point from which to rethink the opposition between the inside and the outside, the public and the private, the self and other" - Elizabeth Grosz 

What is the human obsession with body modification? We have always physically manipulated our flesh in our desire for an ideal body. Gender, the skins surface and human silhouette can be re-shaped according to our wish. I think this part of human behaviour is very interesting and would like to explore it in my work.