Words
I know I’m desperately late to write about this project, but someone just told me about it and I wondered if you guys heard of it already.
It’s called the Shelley Jackson Skin Project. Shelley Jackson invites participants to tattoo one word on themselves- one she chooses. All those words together are a story. Nobody knows the story except for the participants.
I can see the art behind the concept. What makes me uncomfortable with the idea is that she calls particpants “words”, as though the word on their skin is now their whole of identity. A word they haven’t chosen themselves. Her last three lines in her “Call for Participants” epitomizes that to me.
“Only the death of words effaces them from the text. As words die the story will change; when the last word dies the story will also have died. The author will make every effort to attend the funerals of her words.”
I would not disvalue this project, I think it’s fascinating. But I would not participate. Would you?
August 18th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Reading the Jackson’s “Call for Participants” made me uncomfortable also. I’m not sure what her larger vision for the project is, but it does seem to entail some fairly severe restrictions to retain absolute control over the work’s, shall I say, “pieces.” From regulating font size to seemingly giving participants permission to contact each other (“participants…may…establish communication with one another), Jackson almost creates a roadmap for the rest of each word’s existence. I cannot help but find the idea fascinating. And while I can appreciate it, isn’t the appeal of participating in such a project actually being a part of it – as in you the person? If someone told me, “Hey from start to finish, you will embody this word, but never really be connected to it or the project,” I wouldn’t help but feel like the third wheel in the Jackson-word relationship. I think that forced disconnect probably would prevent me from participating.
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Exactly!