Flesh and Divinity is a sculpural work composed of LED lighting, translucent PLA, and painted wood.
Flesh and Divinity explores the transmutable nature of the human form, and the connection between the form and the unseen forces of convention, religion, and spirituality. The figure is both contained and crowned by the gilded box it wears, and the ambiguity of which object- the organic form, or the rigid box- has agency, remains.
We grow and change as we mature, and even after our growth plates have sealed our bodies are not static. Our skin, our “packaging” will grow and stretch as we gain weight, and snap back when we lose it. Even our body fat distribution can change based on age and hormone levels. As a transitioning person, my body is very much not static and I’ve watched it change rapidly over the last two years. The unseen has acted on my body more so than most as cultural forces shaped the steps of medical transition I chose to undergo.
Flesh and Divinity was constructed in two parts. The first part is the figure, produced in translucent PLA, through which lights were run for internal illumination. The second part is the structure the figure bears, which was cut from wood using a laser and painted with acrylic paint before being partially coated in gold leaf.
