CORPUS INSIGNUM

An edition of ten numbered Portfolios and two Artist’s Proofs. Each portfolio contains fifteen black and white photographs printed on double weight, fiber based, 11" x 14" paper. The prints have been sepia toned, archivally processed, and mounted in 16" x 20" mats, dated, numbered, titled and signed on verso.

List of prints:

1.       Birth Scar, 1998

2.       Implants, 2000

3.       Knife Wound, 2000

4.       Scarification, 2000

5.       Razor Cuts, 1998

6.       Breast Augmentation, 2000

7.       Branding, 2000

8.       Heart Surgery, 2000

9.       SRF, 1999

10.  Knee Surgery, 1996

11.  Gun Shot, 1999

12.  Split Tongue, 2002

13.  Fresh Cut, 2002

14.  Ear, 2002

15.  Crainiotomy, 2001

In Latin, corpus insignum means “marked body”. The English words “insignia”, and “signature” share the same root as insignum, all carry the sense of a mark to distinguish, or a mark that carries significance. Here we are looking at scars as a kind of insignia worn by those who have passed through an ordeal. Every scar is the result of some physically traumatic event, one that almost surely carries emotional, and perhaps spiritual significance as well. At a minimum this event that leaves, on the body, its signature for the life of the individual.

The scars photographed for this series have extremely diverse origins - - - always there is a story. There are scars self-inflicted for beauty and decoration, and also self-inflicted scars that stand as enigmatic private symbols, and some that we can only guess to be physical reflections of some deep inner anguish - - - wounds that serve perhaps a homeopathic function for the psyche. Several scars in this series are bound up with life and death, either the direct result of a failed attempt to end a life, or in the case of heart surgery, a successful effort to save a life.