Anatomical Venus scarf
Collaboration with Logandria—Illustrator & silk scarf siren
The Anatomical Venus is a medical & artistic marvel—a life-size wax woman with dissectible, anatomically correct layers that fit together in perfect puzzle pieces. She was created in Florence Italy in 1790 to teach the public about anatomy & was intended to be the Venus of science on the Grand Tour. While the Venus is miraculous in her precision & artistry, it is her paradox that has enthralled audiences for centuries. She occupies the liminal space between art & medicine, science & religion, natural & artificial, macabre & sensuous, ethereal & deeply embodied.
Much like the Anatomical Venus, whose layers reveal more together than apart, this scarf is intended to be a paradoxical puzzle for you to piece together. There are two sonnets scattered across the scarf: one in the voice of the Venus’ creator & one in the voice of the Venus herself.
All details are inspired by the teachings of Joanna Ebenstein of Morbid Anatomy, who (literally) wrote the book on the Anatomical Venus.
Photo credit: Logan Spector
Constructing Artificialia
Look at her—god—isn’t she becoming?
This maid I’ve made, adorned with flaxen hair
from my late wife with ropes of pearls running
across her perfect breasts. Waxen & fair—
her skin as incorruptible as saints—
she mouths holy words—angelic, eerie—
the ecstasy of known & knowing paints
her lips. She’s our unliving reliquary
to house the wisdom of the palette knife
& scalpel—show us gods’ design—transplant
our faith & organize the organ soup in life-
size pleasing puzzle pieces to enchant
the people’s minds. She is a map of man
& through her body helps us understand.
Dissecting Naturalia
Look at me—I am my own becoming.
Don’t take your eyes away from me—I’m made
for you—a teachable moment, succumbing
to questing hands & in your gazes flayed.
At times I am the moon taken apart
in bites. My coffin chest unhinged—displaced
beside my crown of stolen curls—my heart
threaded with wedding rings, organs defaced
with hollow threads & words. The archaic
but human need for beauty—carved cameo
from hills of unstitched, rotting men mosaiced
into the gravestone of my face. Long ago,
their lives gave way to mine—Unfathered Venus,
who turns the profane into perfect genius.