Gazing into the Face of Death
Rituals of death often define a culture. Many societies have strict ideas of what should be done with the husk a human leaves behind at death.
The news is full of stories that include outrage at how someone treats a body, like this story about cremated military remains being dumped in a landfill:
http://hamptonroads.com/node/621068
Most of us are moved by death, the idea of death and what should be done with bodies of the dead. It seems to me that, as a society, we are often removed from death. The dead are sent away from us to funeral homes and mainly only viewed for a short time, after they have been doctored up to look as alive as possible. We usually view them for only a short time before they are hidden in the ground or before they become ashes. Perhaps it is easier to focus on living when we do not see what we can become.
Society seems much more open now, about health and sexuality, sharing what the outsides of our bodies can do and experience. However, most of us do not truly have an understanding of what we are physically inside.
There is a man, both an artist and a doctor who believes that death is not something to hide. His name is Gunther von Hagens. Gunther von Hagens thinks there is great value in viewing the layers of a human body and that all humans should be allowed to see what they are inside.
He created an art exhibit called, "Bodyworlds: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies." His exhibit is, as described, full of dead humans, preserved forever in many different poses.
His exhibit includes:
"...a skinned male body crouched over a chessboard with his cranium split open to show his brain, seemingly contemplating a move that he will never make.
There will be The Horseman, a rider with his skull chopped in two and his body flayed to show the underlying musculature. He sits with his brain in one hand and a whip in the other, astride the posed and flayed cadaver of a horse, frozen for ever in its leap. There will be another figure chopped up and vertically expanded so that his body resembles a sashimied totem pole or a Salvador Dali painting in which the sliced body looks like a chest of drawers. There will be the erect, flayed cadaver of a man holding his own skin aloft as though it was a precious trophy."
(from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/19/arts.highereducation)
Some may say this is disrespectful of the dead. Inhuman to show the physical aspects of dead men and women.
I'm not sure how I would feel, if I had the chance to view his exhibits. I'm sure it would make me uncomfortable, in some ways.
My main concern about his use of bodies is how he obtained the bodies. But one of the articles I found about his work said that:
"All the bodies that Von Hagens preserves have been donated, mostly by people who declared while living that they would like their bodies to be plastinated to advance human knowledge. Each exhibition leads to a flood of volunteers, and Von Hagens now has a registry of 3,200 donors."
(from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/19/arts.highereducation)
So, while I do not know how I would feel seeing such an exhibit, I have to say, as long as participation was voluntary, I don't feel what he is doing is wrong. The human body is, in some ways, almost artwork in and of itself. The layers and mechanics of the body are amazing and, in some way, perhaps exhibits like this help celebrate how amazing we all are.
Perhaps some feel that the body should only be studied by those who study medicine. However, I like the idea that, if one wanted to, one could learn more about the body through this exhibit even as a layperson who is not in the medical field.
Whether his exhibits are worthy or disrespectful, Gunther von Hagens does seem to have noble goals. He says, "I hope for the exhibitions to be places of enlightenment and contemplation, even of philosophical and religious self recognition, and open to interpretation regardless of the background and philosophy of life of the viewer."
(quote from: http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/gunther_von_hagens/life_in_science.html)
No matter how you take it, there is something amazing about seeing these bodies frozen forever in time:
(Photo above shows the body of a man, with different layers of his skin showing.
As LJ user Myna Bird commented, "He is an athlete charging forward with the ball, purposefully designed to show the muscular and skeletal systems of the body which are doing the job of the athlete." One peeling hand is outstretched and a viewer of the exhibit is almost seems to be within the embrace of his outstretched arm. He is staring intently into the eye sockets of the basketball-playing body.)
Do you think von Hagens is going too far? Is his work disrespectful or helpful? Why should he continue or be stopped?
I would enjoy reading your comments on his work. Do feel free to disagree with me. I learn a great deal from the perspectives of others.
The news is full of stories that include outrage at how someone treats a body, like this story about cremated military remains being dumped in a landfill:
http://hamptonroads.com/node/621068
Most of us are moved by death, the idea of death and what should be done with bodies of the dead. It seems to me that, as a society, we are often removed from death. The dead are sent away from us to funeral homes and mainly only viewed for a short time, after they have been doctored up to look as alive as possible. We usually view them for only a short time before they are hidden in the ground or before they become ashes. Perhaps it is easier to focus on living when we do not see what we can become.
Society seems much more open now, about health and sexuality, sharing what the outsides of our bodies can do and experience. However, most of us do not truly have an understanding of what we are physically inside.
There is a man, both an artist and a doctor who believes that death is not something to hide. His name is Gunther von Hagens. Gunther von Hagens thinks there is great value in viewing the layers of a human body and that all humans should be allowed to see what they are inside.
He created an art exhibit called, "Bodyworlds: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies." His exhibit is, as described, full of dead humans, preserved forever in many different poses.
His exhibit includes:
"...a skinned male body crouched over a chessboard with his cranium split open to show his brain, seemingly contemplating a move that he will never make.
There will be The Horseman, a rider with his skull chopped in two and his body flayed to show the underlying musculature. He sits with his brain in one hand and a whip in the other, astride the posed and flayed cadaver of a horse, frozen for ever in its leap. There will be another figure chopped up and vertically expanded so that his body resembles a sashimied totem pole or a Salvador Dali painting in which the sliced body looks like a chest of drawers. There will be the erect, flayed cadaver of a man holding his own skin aloft as though it was a precious trophy."
(from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/19/arts.highereducation)
Some may say this is disrespectful of the dead. Inhuman to show the physical aspects of dead men and women.
I'm not sure how I would feel, if I had the chance to view his exhibits. I'm sure it would make me uncomfortable, in some ways.
My main concern about his use of bodies is how he obtained the bodies. But one of the articles I found about his work said that:
"All the bodies that Von Hagens preserves have been donated, mostly by people who declared while living that they would like their bodies to be plastinated to advance human knowledge. Each exhibition leads to a flood of volunteers, and Von Hagens now has a registry of 3,200 donors."
(from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/19/arts.highereducation)
So, while I do not know how I would feel seeing such an exhibit, I have to say, as long as participation was voluntary, I don't feel what he is doing is wrong. The human body is, in some ways, almost artwork in and of itself. The layers and mechanics of the body are amazing and, in some way, perhaps exhibits like this help celebrate how amazing we all are.
Perhaps some feel that the body should only be studied by those who study medicine. However, I like the idea that, if one wanted to, one could learn more about the body through this exhibit even as a layperson who is not in the medical field.
Whether his exhibits are worthy or disrespectful, Gunther von Hagens does seem to have noble goals. He says, "I hope for the exhibitions to be places of enlightenment and contemplation, even of philosophical and religious self recognition, and open to interpretation regardless of the background and philosophy of life of the viewer."
(quote from: http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/gunther_von_hagens/life_in_science.html)
No matter how you take it, there is something amazing about seeing these bodies frozen forever in time:
(Photo above shows the body of a man, with different layers of his skin showing.
As LJ user Myna Bird commented, "He is an athlete charging forward with the ball, purposefully designed to show the muscular and skeletal systems of the body which are doing the job of the athlete." One peeling hand is outstretched and a viewer of the exhibit is almost seems to be within the embrace of his outstretched arm. He is staring intently into the eye sockets of the basketball-playing body.)
Do you think von Hagens is going too far? Is his work disrespectful or helpful? Why should he continue or be stopped?
I would enjoy reading your comments on his work. Do feel free to disagree with me. I learn a great deal from the perspectives of others.