Khushbu Patel, India
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“uncanny is what one calls everything that was meant to remain secret and hidden and has come to open.” - from ‘The Anatomical Venus’ by Thames and Hudson |
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My practice so far is an integration of the self as a corporeal curiosity and technological advancements in the field of biology and medicine. The corporeal self being the initiator and the medical imaging techniques as the ‘other’ that has made possible the visual visibility of the internal body organs. It is this curiosity to visiblise the unseen internal manifests as tangible works in the form of drawings, videos and site specific interventions. The manifestation of the unseen here generates and creates space for the muted abject and the uncanny.
Things that arouse my interest have to do with the life of any living or inanimate object, the temporal quality of earthly existence and the inevitability of change, decomposition, the effect of time, its various marks, these are prime sources of fascination in my work. Through my works, I want to showcase the importance of taking notice of unobserved spaces and bringing out the hidden marks.
Loathing an item of food, a piece of filth, waste, dung. The spasms and vomiting that protects me. The repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from defilement, sewage and muck. The shame of compromise, of being in the middle of treachery. The fascinated start that leads me toward and separates me from them. “ - Julia Kristeva, Power of Horror on ‘Approaching Abjection’ page 23
I cite Kristeva in relation to the context in which this particular text is written. This tension between attraction and revulsion has been my muse and has birthed so many of my works. It is integral to my process. Abjection can be understood as something that disturbs identity, system, and order, that which does not respect borders, positions, rules, and that which does not find itself within the hold of morality. One of its prime manifestations, which is the existence of the deject, sheds light on the role of abjection in the life of a deviant, an exile. The place of abjection in my work finds its foothold in the physical. The excrement rejected waste and stigma about various skin conditions of the human body, its psychological effect, and the social stigma that is attached to it, becoming both its home and prison.
A shift in the gaze is very obvious when it comes to looking at a body from the outer appearance which could be ideal in terms of perfection but the internal layers reveal an altogether different perspective building a gap within the two.
Khushbu Patel via shrineempiregallery.com
Things that arouse my interest have to do with the life of any living or inanimate object, the temporal quality of earthly existence and the inevitability of change, decomposition, the effect of time, its various marks, these are prime sources of fascination in my work. Through my works, I want to showcase the importance of taking notice of unobserved spaces and bringing out the hidden marks.
Loathing an item of food, a piece of filth, waste, dung. The spasms and vomiting that protects me. The repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from defilement, sewage and muck. The shame of compromise, of being in the middle of treachery. The fascinated start that leads me toward and separates me from them. “ - Julia Kristeva, Power of Horror on ‘Approaching Abjection’ page 23
I cite Kristeva in relation to the context in which this particular text is written. This tension between attraction and revulsion has been my muse and has birthed so many of my works. It is integral to my process. Abjection can be understood as something that disturbs identity, system, and order, that which does not respect borders, positions, rules, and that which does not find itself within the hold of morality. One of its prime manifestations, which is the existence of the deject, sheds light on the role of abjection in the life of a deviant, an exile. The place of abjection in my work finds its foothold in the physical. The excrement rejected waste and stigma about various skin conditions of the human body, its psychological effect, and the social stigma that is attached to it, becoming both its home and prison.
A shift in the gaze is very obvious when it comes to looking at a body from the outer appearance which could be ideal in terms of perfection but the internal layers reveal an altogether different perspective building a gap within the two.
Khushbu Patel via shrineempiregallery.com