The Abject Body

The abject body

The human body to some is a beautiful thing, a thing to desire. An abject body is something that is seen as disgusting, death, disease, deformity and even the grotesque.  

                       Gods of Earth & Heaven, LA, 1988,

Joel-Peter Witkins book “Gods of Earth And Heaven” looks at the themes of an abject body. He would use models such as dwarfs, people with lost limbs, transsexuals, hermaphrodites and even body parts. These models which the audience might consider to be ‘freaks’ shows the boundaries or what is considered to be ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal.

Jo Spence and Tim Sheard, Exiled, 1989. From Narratives of Dis-ease (1989).

Jo Spence an artist that photographed her challenge through breast cancer challenged the view that a normal appearance is deemed socially desirable. She was against society’s imposed pressure to conform and conceal disfigurement. Through her images she showed us her breast cancer scars with the word ‘Monster’ written on herself to show that she is not socially acceptable and has an abject body. Her book  "Cultural Sniping: The Art of Transgression..1995" transgression meaning the action of going beyond or overstepping some boundary or limit talks about the social boundaries that we as people set up for ourselves for which is to be seen as 'normal' and 'abnormal'(abject).