in the flesh (theme 1)

Thirteen hours ago, I frowned at the screen of my laptop, scrutinizing the definition of "corporeality". It read, "of the nature of the physical body; bodily; tangible". Immediately, my innocently guilty mind thought of the human body in its most physical form, the form immortalized by the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, the form in which man came into the world. I am of course talking about the naked form. Naturally, I reevaluated myself and tried to come up with a more conservative alternative, but in the end, I realized that if Celeste really wanted "corporeality", she would get it just how she liked it: in the flesh*.

The first drawing was done with a combination of a graphite 6B pencil, vine charcoal, and a 6B charcoal stick. A reference photo was used for parts of the body. The brightest and smoothest part of the figure is the model's single exposed breast, which stems into her loosely expressive face and then falls into right arm which slips off the edge of the paper. At the same time, the model's lower extremities are contorted and seemingly melting off the page as well, entirely unstable yet firmly built. The right breast is all but nonexistent, perhaps having already eroded off the body into the black abyss that encases the figure.

I got into thinking about permanent jewelry next. Could "corporeality" include extensions of the body as well, even foreign and unnatural metals? An  extreme and iconic example are neck rings, which are customary in some Asian and African cultures. Often worn beginning at young ages, neck rings create the appearance of an elongated neck by pushing the collarbones and ribs down, all to fit an ideal of beauty.

The woman that I drew has grown up with these neck rings, whose numbers testify to her long life. In essence, the rings have become a part of her corporeal body. The drawing was done using the same 6B graphite pencil, vine charcoal, and 6B charcoal stick.

* I mean no harm!