Others and The Body
Our perception of the body is varied because we have distinct cultural backgrounds and personal stories. Thus, I am curious about how other people regard their bodies. I conducted three interviews with different people who work in different fields: a yoga teacher, a performer, and a dancer to understand how they engage with their bodies.
︎Interview I : Artist and Yoga Teacher
︎Interview II : Artist and performer
︎Interview III : Dancer
I am glad these interviews grant me a glance into how other people think and employ their bodies. Our conversations provide more inspiring perspectives and extend my thoughts on the many ways we can comprehend the body. Everyone has their own focus on using their body. For example, Jurjen makes use of his body as a performance; Dewi considers the body as a way to self-examine and she inspects the inner connection and feelings within her body; Silvia thinks of the body as one instrument, which operates our inner perceptions, such as feelings and senses, gathered from outer perception and together through the body these perceptions become "all-in-one." The notion, “Body as a bridge,” links up to my whole thesis. The body builds a bridge as my research topic and my artistic practice, most importantly. Body as a bridge also reveals the connection of exploring myself from both outside and inside of my body, as well as revealing that the body becomes a link to couple our perceptions with our surroundings. Similarly, the body becomes a way to "communicate and focus on people's interactions." In this case, our body functions to pass on the bodily message and contact others and works as an expressional bridge. Through dance, the body acts as an approach that can deliver a message that you want to express.
This expression about the body is similar to how Cuban American performance artist, Ana Mendieta, uses her body as a recorder, analyzer, investigator, and bridge to contact the elements from the earth. The concept profoundly echoes “I experience everything with my whole body when I create and look into art." Using the body to record every moment, it is like making a living body sculpture, building and growing slowly and eventually being the most unique artwork in the whole world.
From another angle, I like the idea from Dewi and Silvia that "the body is made of memories; there are the knowledge and experiences that we have inherited in the body.” All of these memories we experience and feel, no matter if it was good or bad, our body registers. Using the body as an expressional tool, we can wear different types of emotions or become different characters, adopting different performances to living in society. But no matter how we change our bodies remember: It is still you.
Our perception of the body is varied because we have distinct cultural backgrounds and personal stories. Thus, I am curious about how other people regard their bodies. I conducted three interviews with different people who work in different fields: a yoga teacher, a performer, and a dancer to understand how they engage with their bodies.
︎Interview I : Artist and Yoga Teacher
︎Interview II : Artist and performer
︎Interview III : Dancer
I am glad these interviews grant me a glance into how other people think and employ their bodies. Our conversations provide more inspiring perspectives and extend my thoughts on the many ways we can comprehend the body. Everyone has their own focus on using their body. For example, Jurjen makes use of his body as a performance; Dewi considers the body as a way to self-examine and she inspects the inner connection and feelings within her body; Silvia thinks of the body as one instrument, which operates our inner perceptions, such as feelings and senses, gathered from outer perception and together through the body these perceptions become "all-in-one." The notion, “Body as a bridge,” links up to my whole thesis. The body builds a bridge as my research topic and my artistic practice, most importantly. Body as a bridge also reveals the connection of exploring myself from both outside and inside of my body, as well as revealing that the body becomes a link to couple our perceptions with our surroundings. Similarly, the body becomes a way to "communicate and focus on people's interactions." In this case, our body functions to pass on the bodily message and contact others and works as an expressional bridge. Through dance, the body acts as an approach that can deliver a message that you want to express.
This expression about the body is similar to how Cuban American performance artist, Ana Mendieta, uses her body as a recorder, analyzer, investigator, and bridge to contact the elements from the earth. The concept profoundly echoes “I experience everything with my whole body when I create and look into art." Using the body to record every moment, it is like making a living body sculpture, building and growing slowly and eventually being the most unique artwork in the whole world.
From another angle, I like the idea from Dewi and Silvia that "the body is made of memories; there are the knowledge and experiences that we have inherited in the body.” All of these memories we experience and feel, no matter if it was good or bad, our body registers. Using the body as an expressional tool, we can wear different types of emotions or become different characters, adopting different performances to living in society. But no matter how we change our bodies remember: It is still you.