Flesh&Blood (1998) by Mouchette RESPONSE

One thing that I really like about rhizome, is that I never know how the heck I got to the piece of work that I decide writing about. This is the third time I search for an article and every time I feel more comfortable writing about it. I used to want to find a photograph or a video or an animation. This time I found a whole website (granted, the website is not too long) that made me uncomfortable, curious and a little scared at the same time.

This website is the home page of a (at the time of publication) 13 year old girl called Mouchette. It features really close shots of this girl's body, mostly only part of the body that are connected to the sense; tongue, eyes, ears lips and mouth. I don't think that the photography is particularly interesting, but combined with the text and the crappy interface, it made me feel like I was in a world of sick pornography. It was like I was watching someone expose herself in a way that was dehumanizing... I don't know it really confused me for a while.

Once I got over my initial shock, I realized that I was looking at parts of the human body that I see everyday, all the time. Lips and ears are accepted in my culture as well as in the U.S. then why did it freak me out so much? Was it the fact that it was the body of a 13 year old girl? Would my feelings and reactions had been different if it was a boy's body? an old person? I don't know... Perhaps it's just the close up of the picture and the text, prompting me to do something with that body part.

There is this other part of the website that I could no longer experience because the website is so old and probably out of maintenance. Most of the pages, asks you a question about that picture that you are seeing like "what do my tongue tastes like"? then you write your answer and send it in an E-mail. The system is supposed to reply to you. I wish I had gotten a response, just to experience the whole of the artistic intent.

It's not like I'm afraid of other people's body: As a dancer, I get male and female groins in my face all the time. I get in close contact with people's bad breath, sweat, sometimes blood. I  mean I think I have a good relationship with my body as well as others'. So what is it that really freaked me out so much? I think it's that i was not expecting it, that fact it was a 13 year old girl or maybe the whole "my parents are ok with me doing this" kinda persona she was wearing.

Anyway... it was interesting.



http://rhizome.org/artbase/artwork/1692/