The
desire to attend the Body Worlds exhibit began a couple years ago when
it first came to Kansas City. As we walked the halls on its return
to the area yesterday, I’m glad we made it a priority as it was a
time of reverence and reflection. My initial reason I wanted to
view it was because of my interest in the human anatomy and how it
may pertain to its representation through my painting. I have studied
anatomy books for this reason and keep this structure well in mind
while constructing a nude sketch from memory or creating a sculpture.
An awareness of the way the body moves and the structure of bone
and muscle plays an important part in my work, but then there is the
soul of the piece as well. It is the soul, the shear magnificence of
the body in which we inhabit is something in which I have always been
in awe. The complexities are so vast it seems to be a universe unto itself. This awareness is something I thought many overlook and take
for granted. But this was different. There was a quiet reverence
and appreciation on a higher level than any other museum experience
other than that of the Australian War Memorial. Those who attended
were participants in the experience as they looked on to each exhibit
with curiosity and fascination seeing themselves at the same time.
Darkened halls and soft music along with illuminated larger than life
banners revealed the of the faces of society, young and old, along
with quotes from philosophers, entertainers, artists set the tone.
Perfectly preserved plasticized human specimens demonstrated the
difference between good health and that of the diseased body,
throughout the life's cycle from an embryo through old age. Each
visitor connected on a primal level as they walked with a silent
awareness. Beyond my own personal connection I couldn’t help but
notice how so many others responded. A young medical student peered
into a cross-section of the brain of a standing figure, another
marveled at the strained muscles of an athlete in full stance.
Standing over a display case of a translucent lateral section of the
torso, a middle age woman was amazed at the amount of fat around the
heart and in the liver of an overweight specimen, as apposed to that
of healthy one. A cluster of adolescent youth observed these
intact human specimens including reproductive organs on full display
without one giggle in reference to them. An occasional whisper of
a family discussing an exhibit of an ailment that personally effected
a family member, gaining new understanding followed by a moment to
reflect on how precious and fleeting life is.
This traveling
exhibit of real human specimens has traveled around the world
reaching millions of people. Each visitor seeing it through their
own lens, shaped by their own experiences. One thing brought to mind
was the display of human fetuses at each stage of development and how
this may in the eyes of our youth change the way they may see and
value human life when the time comes to their own reproductive
responsibility and impact those who have halted this amazing creation
of life. From as little as five weeks the size of a large pea and
the rapid growth to thirteen weeks the size of a walnut on throughout
the development until the time of birth. As I walked through the
first hall large screen showed the amazing process of conception and
the rapid cell division that occurs and the beginning of life
through time lapse photography. In a short time a fetus is formed and
simultaneously the beginning of our end. Each time a cell divides,
we approach our own mortality, for cell division and growth can only
continue for so long. For some individuals that can mean a life
reaching well beyond one hundred years, for others the body wears
out, cells die and we begin to decay from the inside out far before
our actual time of death. Each body system working in perfect unison
like a well oiled machine, but if there is one system compromised the
rest of the body suffers and a spiral effect downward can occur. For
those who have stood at a loved ones bedside in the
ICU, accompanied them as they pass from this realm into another, battled cancer, or a number of other diseases, know how resilient as well as fragile, are these vessels we inhabit.
Anyone who continues to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka 1883-1924
Age is an issue of mind over matter, If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Mark Twain 1835-1910
We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are. The Talmud
A man must have grown old and lived long in order to see how short life is. Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860 German Philosopher
To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living. Henri Frederic Amiel Swiss philosopher , poet and critic
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein
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