drawing
squatted figure (figura agazapada). 2009, charcoal on paper, 28 x 37 in. ( 71 x 94 cms)

Shifting from the Conceptual to the Literal

There are many ways of addressing issues of the body. Myself, being interested in the realm of the flesh, identity, sexuality, and introspection; found a certain pleasure in leaving the heavy burden of the conceptual humanity for a simpler concept.

In the series of drawings Status of the Dead Body the figure is understood as a material and nothing else. There’s no story, no ancient goddess behind the black silhouettes portrayed on big sheets of paper. It became clear the shape of a hip and the texture of hair weren’t meaningful this time as feminine or racial objects of interest. Like Kiki Smith said: “I just want to talk about the generic experience of the body without it becoming specific to specific people.” It is purely about the figure or a generic way of showing the figure without getting into issues of gender, race, and personality.
(...)
The models for the series are images of actual dead bodies. I found them intriguing in the way death is evident in every gesture of these people, even more intriguing the way the photographers captured morbid scenes with such great interest in anatomic features and composition. To me it is evidence of an artistic need of representing the body as a corpse or as a vital human in the same status of importance; a human as it is, in its different states.

see complete statement here