New Body

Are we our body? Are our bodily experiences an innate part of our identity? When our body lets us down, what can we do? When our body fails us, can we just find a new one? This series of oil paintings wrestles with the inherent physicality of our existence.

We are told if we are good, we will be well. If we try very hard, if we eat this and don't eat that, if we do the right exercise, if we eliminate stress, if we achieve, if we pray the right prayers, then we will be well. Health is marketed to us as an act of will – and consumerism. If all else fails, we can buy replacement parts. But can we really? Will they work the same as what we have lost?

When the body fails in some way – through illness or disability or aging or injury – we may discover that we are not what we thought we were. We are, in fact, material beings, animals, a part of the natural world. Like all of nature, we are both miraculous and fallible. Awesome and terrifying.

In these paintings, I hunt out various “new bodies" to try on – looking for something more comfortable than my own. How is the search going? It depends on how you look at it. How do you see it?