record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00432
Thesis Title
THE OPTICS OF ANATOMY AND LIGHT: A STUDIO-BASED INVESTIGATION OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANATOMICAL IMAGES
Author
NINA SELLARS
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Year
2012
Number of Pages
185
University
MONASH UNIVERSITY
Thesis Supervisor
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ROBERT NELSON
Supervisor e-mail
Robert.Nelson AT monash.edu
Other Supervisor(s)
Language(s) of Thesis
ENGLISH
Department / Discipline
FINE ART
Languages Familiar to Author
ENGLISH
URL where full thesis can be found
arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/896249
Keywords
anatomy; art; light; technology; bioart; visual culture; images; media theory
Abstract: 200-500 words
As anatomical images of the human body increasingly circulate in the current visual and media culture, they belong not only within the domain of scientific enquiry but also exist in a creative field that helps to further define our human identity. Images that expose the inner materiality of the body are becoming naturalized in our everyday lives, as a result of the increased proliferation of medical imagery in various media. The context for this research project is provided by a contemporary investment in what we may term ‘the anatomical gaze’; one that reaches beyond the strictly defined discipline of anatomy. However, this work considers anatomical images at their inception to explore the role light plays in defining the anatomical gaze. Here, light is presented as an instigator rather than a passive illuminator of anatomical knowledge. The studio-based investigation poetically engages with some of the ways in which light impacts upon our negotiations and clarifies our imaginings of the human anatomical body. It also discusses how these experiences are articulated through images. The visual part of the research is comprised of a series of installations that hybridize old and new optical technologies, in ways that expose slippages and meeting points between different ways of visualizing anatomy. The magnification of sight and intensification of light enabled by various technological advancements have allowed us to see what previously remained invisible in the anatomical body. But, more importantly, these technical developments have also provided us with some new ways of conceptualizing these recently discovered bodily structures and their representations. For this reason anatomy is positioned in this research project as a topic that should not be, and in reality cannot be, insulated from cultural concerns. Indeed, anatomy underpins Western ideas of the body, identity and subjectivity, and it is important that it should remain open to critical investigation.