SCARRED FOR LIFE
INSTALLATION, VARIED
TED MEYER (US))
Scarred for Life is a unique multimodality arts-in-healthcare project that addresses issues of body integrity and the impact of invasive medical procedures on self-identity, through the lens of contemporary art and culture. The project’s title embodies a duality of ideas that are explored in depth: first, that medically-related scars or physical disfigurements often have a profound, lifelong impact on a patient’s self-identity and secondly, that those scars have the potential to serve as powerful symbols of regeneration and life.
Exploring facets of self-adornment, contemporary trends in body modification and the ways in which art has been used to redefine aesthetic norms, Scarred for Life presents ways in which medical patients can grow to view their scars as beautiful symbols of personal resilience. Prints have been created with from the participants’ scars. They are displayed in the space alongside an image and story about each person and their scar. Two additional prints have been added to the collection in Dublin and visitors are invited to draw their own scars and add them to the collection in the space.
BIO:
Ted Meyer loves bodies. He loves to paint them, photograph them, even print off them. He loves healthy bodies, but also bodies in states of trauma and healing. He creates puzzles of bodies that celebrate sexuality and survival. Through his artmaking, photography, design, curation and publishing projects, Ted portrays the beauty and humour of physicality while exploring narratives of the human condition. Along with his desire to find beauty in stylised bodies through painting and highly crafted photos, his art functions as a healing document for those affected by trauma. Ted uses his artwork to teach the medical community how treatments affect patients long-term.