Every thing that is human

In her artist statement Jenine Shereos writes about her work "The Breath"

Breath(e) is an exploration of the 'permeable boundary' that exists between our physical bodies and the world around us. There is a literal exchange that occurs within every inhale and every exhale.

I can't help thinking, that this  text was written post factum and that the inspiration for making this piece was an Anatomy atlas. I like the intricate network of blood vessels that looks like a system of roots going deep in the soil which makes the figure look like a tree. And Jenine's little leaves made of human hair. Very unusual material which definitely make some people shudder in disgust, unlike Victorians we don't exchange locks of hair with lovers and don't wear brooches woven from hair of dead people.



However parts of human bodies were not wasted in older, less squeamish cultures. Bones, hair, sculls and pieces of mummified corpses were used for rituals and decorative objects together with horns, teeth and claws of hunters trophies. Some examples from MAS museum, Antwerp.

In Tibetan tradition, a body without soul was worthless, the dead were left in the mountains to feed scavenges. Bones served as offering vessels musical instruments, drums(sculls) and flutes(thigh bones). Smaller bones were connected together to form strings which then were fixed on the priests waists as a sort of aprons.

This decorated fake head from Latin America was made of human bones and feathers and was used for burial ceremonies.

The photo of the decorative scull of unidentified animal, probably cow (human sculls are still taboo these days) was taken on the same day I visited the MAS museum.

Whatever was the artist's inspiration for this piece, bone is just a beautiful material, no wonder  ivory was extremely popular.

Marc Cordenier bone sculptures