Human Canvas
Juan Diego Villegas
With technology replacing most things human, we wonder what is authentic, what is natural? In a time when the means of communication between human beings has become increasingly virtual, non-spatial, non-tactile and mediated through technology, my thesis turns the focus to the imminent reality of our bodies.
This project is about skin. It is our largest organ, and I am interested in its capacity for both regeneration and disintegration. Its surface separates us from that which exists on the outside—a liminal zone where history is recorded through wrinkles and scars, as well as connecting us to the present through the sensory input of touch. The marks we sustain throughout the day are often ignored and unseen, and there’s a need to elevate their nonverbal communication in order to make us aware of their power to record and expose our actions and interactions. The aim of this book is to give these marks a relevant voice and a narrative, to tell a story of human interaction through marks of the flesh, and to use the body as a canvas.