Caressing History – A draft for body based Historiography

INDIRA LAKShMI PRASAD

The skin is a central theme throughout the exhibition, in its context as a vast register for history. The skin tells a story which is both inexorable and ephemeral. USA based artist Ariana Page Russell explores the hypersensitivity of her own skin in her photographic works, which literalize the archival impulse of the skin. Her sensitive skin produces an inflammatory reaction due to the release of excess Histamine, causing dilation of the capillaries in the nearby connecting tissue – this results in her skin blooming up like a welt on the surface, leaving a transient trail in the places where it is scratched.

The international group show at Shrine Empire, Defense Colony, New Delhi, investigates Elizabeth Freeman’s notion of ‘Eroto-historiography’ as a project of encountering the past where the body is considered an instrument. The concept offers a revised history sexuality by centering on queer pleasures and proposing the body as a site of historical encounter, in and across time.

The exhibition attempts to bring the body to the forefront in an exploration of our collective social history. It aims to bring to light experiences and phenomena which are pushed to the side line by mainstream historical accounts and methods.

The skin is a central theme throughout the exhibition, in its context as a vast register for history. The skin tells a story which is both inexorable and ephemeral. USA based artist Ariana Page Russell explores the hypersensitivity of her own skin in her photographic works, which literalize the archival impulse of the skin. Her sensitive skin produces an inflammatory reaction due to the release of excess Histamine, causing dilation of the capillaries in the nearby connecting tissue – this results in her skin blooming up like a welt on the surface, leaving a transient trail in the places where it is scratched. The result is an array of patterns on her skin, which she photographs. Ariana’s skin becomes a record of the passage of time as well as a repository of memories.

“The sensitivity of my skin is transparency too — what shows up on the surface reflects what’s going on inside. All of my work in the last 12 years has been about this capacity of skin to reveal internal happenings, and how permeable that makes us. Rather than being frustrated by my skin’s transparency, I claim it by making art in the crimson hues that reveal my vulnerability.” — Ariana Page Russell