Gestures of Demarcation V, 2001

Gestures of Demarcation V, 2001

Melanie Manchot
Germany, b. 1966, active England
From the series Gestures of Demarcation, 2001
Dye coupler print
© Melanie Manchot, digital image courtesy of the artist

In her Gestures of Demarcation works, Melanie Manchot portrays herself outside, naked, and looking at the lens. Another person, fully clothed and facing away from the camera, pinches and tugs her skin. As viewers, we are uncomfortable witnesses to the scene, forced to question the issue of public versus private space and the integrity of the individual within communal systems. “My work employs performative strategies to chart gestures, moments of transformation or personal rituals through which my subjects collaborate,” Manchot has said. “Gender issues, the body as a site of subjectivity, and cultural constructions of identity have been recurring themes.”