Catalogue Spotlight: November 2026

Fleshy Underbelly

Hello VP Website and Newsletter readers,

The flesh has been a site of exploration for many creatives across the the history of art. Being able to depict flesh and skin accurately is often seen as a sign of mastery in the fine-arts world. Renaissance paintings and sculptures come to mind, where the flesh is depicted as malleable and smooth, perfected. These visuals eventually became synonymous with the European Neoclassical ideal we are probably most familiar with in the West. 

In the mid-1800’s, Impressionist artists such as Manet utilized familiar classical poses and myths to expose modern struggles and desires in works such as Olympia. 

Édouard Manet's 1863 painting Olympia, featuring a nude woman reclining on a bed with white sheets and large pillows. She wears a black ribbon choker, a gold bracelet, slippers, and an orchid in her hair, looking directly at the viewer. Standing behind the bed on the right, a Black servant woman wearing a pale pink dress presents a large bouquet of flowers wrapped in paper. At the foot of the bed on the far right, a small black cat stands with its tail raised.

Eduard Manet, Olympia, oil on Canvas, 1863.

The Impressionists opened the modern floodgates in terms of bodily representations in art. Along with rejecting the Salon’s strict Neoclassical ideals, the impressionists also allowed for an expansion in terms of content, favouring an exploration of modern scenes and highlighting the lives of everyday people. Later on, Expressionist, Surrealist, and Abstract artists pushed the boundaries even further, depicting the body with a focus on emotion, expression, and the unconscious.

In the conceptual and post-modern worlds of art, the flesh was further deconstructed within the mediums of performance, photography, and video art. Works of the Fluxus movement explored exposed flesh along with themes of nudity and consent, such as Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece and Bottoms. Later, Marina Abramović’s flesh became the target of violence in her work Rhythm 0. 

Black and white photo of Marina Abramović during her 1974 performance Rhythm 0. She is shown in profile, looking solemn with a tear streaming down her cheek. A long chain necklace and a single long-stemmed rose rest against her chest, along with a polaroid picture tucked near her necklace. In the background, observers hold up other polaroid photographs taken during the performance

Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, perfromance photo, 1974. 

Contemporary artists continue to use the flesh as a space to explore the intersections of their own identities, building upon the legacies of artists before them. For this catalogue spotlight I’ve gathered together four works that focus on the flesh as a site of expression and disturbance.

In the words of Cole Porter, I've got you... Under my skin 🎶

- Jo Reimer, Collections and Distribution Assistant

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Atopic by Herlinda Dalayoan, 2026

Atopic is an experimental short film that uses analogue video processes to glitch skin textures, viewing the body as a technological system that retains cultural memory. The work investigates how Atopic Dermatitis (eczema) results from diasporic displacement and persists in an environment the body was not made for.

A painted illustration against a plain white background depicting a woman with brown hair tied in a ponytail, sitting angled on the floor. She wears a short-sleeved white top pulled up slightly to expose her midriff and white underwear, looking down toward her raised right leg and hip.

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My Flesh Crawls by Alison Davis, 2018

Your flesh is porous. If you are not vigilant something could slip through. It is important to check yourself over and then check again. This hand-painted animation will show you how.

An aerial black-and-white photograph showing a field of jagged, ice-covered seracs casting stark, dramatic dark shadows across the terrain. The repeating spiky structures recede toward the top left corner against a dark background, creating a high-contrast, heavily textured pattern

Surface Damage by Hope Peterson, 1992

A variety of scars on women’s bodies are labeled either “surgical”, “self-inflicted” or “other”. The categories break down and overlap as the tape progresses, the image interrupted from time to time by scenes of a scarification. These sequences are interspersed with appropriated images of mountains and avalanches, with accompanying text. A metaphor is developed between natural disasters and the arbitrary control and violence which affects women. Unexpected survival strategies emerge in the attempt to gain self-determination and transcend the loss of power over the body.

(Content warning for those who are sensitive to visuals of self harm)

A low-lighting, close-up shot showing a person's hand draped with several ornate metallic pieces of jewelry, including large round medallion pendants and beaded chains. Dark line tattoos are visible on the skin of the hand, and the image has a retro, grainy video texture with horizontal scanlines and deep reddish-purple tones.

Skin Flick by Milada Kovacova, 1991

As a textual surface, skin becomes the privileged vehicle for the representation of history. A site from which culture defines spatial concepts of containment and exclusion, the marked skin is the point of entry for an analysis of institutions, economic processes and ethical systems. A metaphor for external boundaries, the tattoo traces an architectural system of social discipline applicable to prisons, factories, schools, warehouses: all the places that operate on principles of isolation and surveillance.

If you're interested in inquiring about bringing your work into our catalogue please contact madeline@videopool.org