Abstract/Rationale

Mending focuses on 'The Body as Document' and investigates the subject of scars; how they map memories on the body and effect body confidence. "An unhealthy body image often contributes to low-self esteem, a negative self-worth and a lack of confidence. Often, scars cause a person to have a negative body image” (scarsandspots.com, 2014). This series challenges the ideal body by exposing and stitching around scars to highlight and dignify them. Everybody has scars; why should people hide them, be embarrassed by them, or think they are somehow less because of them? The stitching symbolises suturing the subject’s confidence back together, provoking thoughts about body image and self-love. Seeing these highly personal features up close, and hearing the stories behind them, can feel like being let in on a secret. By recognising that scars are just memories mapped on your body, helping document your life, people can be inspired to make peace with their physical selves and be confident in their body. “The boundaries of Public and Private and their convergence in the site of the ‘body’ are at once suggested, located and problematised. The body, essentially private as the realm of our most intimate experience, is also public, as spectacle and the medium through which common experience is realised and represented.” (Brettle, J., 1994). The use of black backgrounds make it look as though the subjects are emerging out of the shadows - revealing and reclaiming their bodies. The cropping and deliberate choice not to show faces or obtrusive clothing means that the subjects are left ambiguous, therefore the viewer can more easily envision themselves in the subject’s place. By doing the stop motion stitching by hand rather than digitally, the final outcome looks more like it is happening over time which represents how gaining your confidence back after receiving a scar takes time. I have used different types of stitching to represent the different types of scars; surgical, self harm, accidental, removal, and burn.