Biography
Polish-American scholar, Alfred Habdank SkarbekKorzybski contended that human knowledge of the world is bound by the human experience of the world. Reality is inaccessible given the fact that everything humans know is dictated by physiological response. He famously coined the dictum “the map is not the territory.”
My work utilizes the human body as a mode to examine the taboo role anatomical mapmaking has played in our understanding of biological structures. Through the use of inorganic and organic material, my work explores the story of the human body-- examining the journey from embryological fluid into an integrated living world. My process calls into question the validity of anatomical and embryological maps, stressing the importance of embodied anatomy-- of coupling intellectual knowledge with an internal experiential inquiry in order to better sense the potential of the human home.
Mapmaking of living matter varies due largely to the fact that the abstraction of physical space creates nebulous and temporal topography. Regardless, this mapping framework is central to the history and structure of all fields including human anatomy and embryology. In order for humans to understand the nature of the human body, landmarks have historically been intellectualized and reorganized in order to develop a comprehensive overview. Our map of the body perpetually transforms as general consensus is reshaped.
