Week 4: X-Rays and Intimacy
I have always been fascinated with the role X-rays play in the airport. People walk through airport security detectors every day, a multitude of people of different sizes and shapes, with different objects, and different objectives for traveling. Each X-ray is a personalized portrait of the individual. Like MRIs, X-rays have a” look in the same way that the portrait has” (Casini). This non-invasive way of looking into the human body follows a three-dimensional being by viewing a two-dimensional image (Vesna).
Airport X-rays also bring forth conversations about privacy and invasiveness, with whole-body imaging techniques revealing a person’s silhouette and the outlines of underwear (Hsu). Whose simultaneously making viewers wonder about whether we can be granted privacy through airport detectors, X-rays have a way of making intimacy appropriate for wide audiences. Saiko Kanda and Mayuka Hayashi are two artists, who make sense of couple intimacy through the use of X-ray portraits of figures embracing (Hosmer).
Fig. 3: X-Ray Portraits
X-rays have been medical devices known for their unique ability to portray intimacy, while simultaneously remaining distanced from the warmest aspects of the human body. X-rays present a hidden world and encourage viewers to view the human body in a new way while allowing the personals of people to be revealed from the inside out (Fremin Gallery).
Works Cited
Jagodič, Stane. Solar Eclipse. 1972.
Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–99, doi:10.1353/con.2011.0008.
Hosmer, Katie. “Beautifully Intimate X-Ray Portraits of Different Couples.” My Modern Met, 4 Dec. 2013, https://mymodernmet.com/ayako-kanda-mayuka-hayashi-x-ray-portraits/.
Hsu, Jeremy. “Airport Body Scans Reveal All.” NBC News, 1 Apr. 2009, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29997633.
https:/\/potd.pdnonline.com\/author\/sarah-stacke\/#author. “Intimate (and Colorful) X-Rays.” PDN Photo of the Day, 6 Jan. 2020, https://potd.pdnonline.com/david-arky-x-ray-photographs.
Kanda, Saiko, and Mayuka Hayashi. X-Ray Portraits. 2013.
Veasy, Nick. Camper Van. 2019.
Vesna, Victoria. “Human Bodies and Medical Technologies Part 1.” Bruin Learn, 2022, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=4852512.
Hi Giselle!
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog post. I also discussed medical technology such as x-ray and MRI machines and agree with your ideas about how revealing x-rays can be. I thought your explanation of their intimacy and the example of the couple embracing perfectly illustrated how medical technology can fall under art. Similar to various art pieces that evoke powerful emotions, these machines also depict very personal images that can also elicit certain emotions. I believe they carry the same sense of vulnerability like most artwork.
I also think that technology like this can further close the gap between art and science. Through the creative and unexpected innovations they help create, people will see how wonderfully science and art can work together. Specifically, these high-tech tools in art will offer a fresh perspective into human identity and personal character.
Hey Giselle,
ReplyDeleteI love the theme and format of your blog! It looks very nice.
It is true that medical imaging devices present a hidden world and I think this is one of the great ways medical imaging can be used to make art. These machines allow us to see things otherwise unobservable, which is art in itself. The medical imaging art is beautiful to me.
Best,
Sam