Duodermis, Fall 2013
I am interested in the obsessive rituals women practice to cover, mask and carve away imperfections to achieve “natural” physical beauty. We are made up of complex constellations of scars, acne, and wrinkles we try desperately to hide. In Duodermis, I sought to highlight these unwanted bodily embellishments and incorporate beauty found in unexpected places from diseases and injuries to sea life, fungus and mold growth. Materials traditionally associated with adornment like metal, fur, and glass form a complex second skin that obscures and deforms the figure beneath into an anonymous figure that is simultaneously beautiful and grotesque.