This week I visited the
Making Strange exhibit at the UCLA Fowler Museum by Indian artist Vivian
Sundaram. This exhibit was a combination of two of his bodies of work Gagawaka and Postmortem. His Gagawaka
pieces are clothing made of recycled materials or medical supplies while his Postmortem pieces are mannequins,
dummies, or anatomical models that are reconstructed in new ways.
Me at the exhibit
Sundaram’s art is a great
example of art and the science of medicine coming together to reflect on the
human condition. All of the pieces present a stark contrast of the good and the
bad parts of being human. For example, he made a suit out of used medicine
wrappers as a part of Gagawaka. The result
was a very beautiful, shiny, wearable suit but it also reflects human
dependency on drugs.
Silverfoil Suit made of medicine wrappers
His women’s outfit made of
surgical masks is similar in nature. The outfit is beautiful and fashionable
but it also represents the painful plastic surgery women sometimes submit
themselves to in order to achieve a specific beauty ideal.
Immunity made of surgical masks
His Postmortem work is darker in nature because of its stark exposure
of the human body through the reconstruction of parts of mannequins and
anatomical models. For example, the piece below combines a decomposing bottom
half of a mannequin that is filled with the full teaching model of the body. While
the model is precise and shows the detailed and complicated beauty of the human
body, the mannequin is falling apart representing the inevitable pain,
fragility, and destruction of an aging person.
Combination of mannequin and anatomical model
I would highly recommend a
visit to this exhibit. The pieces are a unique vision of medicine technology,
anatomy, and art coming together to create a discussion about the beauty and
pain of the human body. In addition, for my final, I intend to try to
incorporate Sundaram’s creative use of ordinary items.
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