MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension

My prosthetic is a secret of my self. It hides, tucked beneath clothing, allowing me to pass as something that I am not, that I can never be. It is precious to me, it enables me, gives me mobility and an aesthetic that would cease if it was removed from me. Within my body schema, my prosthetic is as...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Elizabeth Wright
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Edinburgh 2009-06-01
Series:Forum
Online Access:http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/623
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author Elizabeth Wright
author_facet Elizabeth Wright
author_sort Elizabeth Wright
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description My prosthetic is a secret of my self. It hides, tucked beneath clothing, allowing me to pass as something that I am not, that I can never be. It is precious to me, it enables me, gives me mobility and an aesthetic that would cease if it was removed from me. Within my body schema, my prosthetic is as much a part of my body as my skin, blood, and organs. It is also an object of technology, a topological replacement of a missing body part. However, a large, un-chartered misunderstanding of experience separates both of these experiences. For many years, academics, artists, and theorists have tried to merge the two, in the process bringing forth ideas on the prosthetic that have seemingly removed it from the realm of disabled experience and into the fantastical world of the uncanny. Therefore, the question for myself, as an artist, is how to explore this large chasm of differing experience and draw out the uncanny into a world of subtle, lived understanding and visual acceptance.
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spelling doaj.art-a013cd92edef428d9747dd034cd407162022-12-22T16:25:30ZengUniversity of EdinburghForum1749-97712009-06-010810.2218/forum.08.623623MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily ExtensionElizabeth Wright0University of NewcastleMy prosthetic is a secret of my self. It hides, tucked beneath clothing, allowing me to pass as something that I am not, that I can never be. It is precious to me, it enables me, gives me mobility and an aesthetic that would cease if it was removed from me. Within my body schema, my prosthetic is as much a part of my body as my skin, blood, and organs. It is also an object of technology, a topological replacement of a missing body part. However, a large, un-chartered misunderstanding of experience separates both of these experiences. For many years, academics, artists, and theorists have tried to merge the two, in the process bringing forth ideas on the prosthetic that have seemingly removed it from the realm of disabled experience and into the fantastical world of the uncanny. Therefore, the question for myself, as an artist, is how to explore this large chasm of differing experience and draw out the uncanny into a world of subtle, lived understanding and visual acceptance.http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/623
spellingShingle Elizabeth Wright
MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension
Forum
title MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension
title_full MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension
title_fullStr MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension
title_full_unstemmed MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension
title_short MY PROSTHETIC AND I: Identity Representation in Bodily Extension
title_sort my prosthetic and i identity representation in bodily extension
url http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/623
work_keys_str_mv AT elizabethwright myprostheticandiidentityrepresentationinbodilyextension