Tracing Someone Else's Skin

This work uses images of 'body marks' found by first browsing on the Web, which then becomes information to produce live-art performances. The performances involve 'marks' that are from the bodies of people found randomly on the Web, people that have no direct relationship to the artist or the audience. The visibility of the body is posed as a problem, where the body is problematic to identify, the marks reflecting racial and ideological effects. The 'marks' range from, and are not exclusive to, birth marks, scars, marathon numbers, skin cancer, self-harm, surgery markings, gay/straight/LGBTQ tattoos, left and right political tattoos... etc. The marks are not meant to focus on any particular person, gender, race, or subject. The marks are ‘erased’ by the end of the performance; by washing away the ink from visible parts of the body, and putting clothing back on, the act of tracing visually erases marks so to shift the audience’s focus on the body and person. The washing/erasure raises questions about racial neutrality, as in ‘whiteness’. The artist thus appears as the trace in bodily form: someone that continues to trace the work beyond the performance. But where the body appears problematic to think and work through in the organ of skin.