Anatomy, Mon Amour

Abstract

In the anatomy theatre of human bodies, contemporary art can be penetrating and distressing, performing its exhibition into haunting pataphysical occurrences, where color, figuration, shapes seep into our imagination like infectious slime. Looking at The Loneliness of the Soul, featuring works by Tracey Emin paired with paintings and watercolors by Edvard Munch (shown at Royal Academy of Art, London, and MUNCH Museum, Oslo, in 2021), the authors examine the odd couple focusing on the abjectness of Emin’s autobiographical drawings of her seemingly devastated body and seek to trace some tendencies of her female erotic and pornographic self-exposure.

Keywords

• abject body
• anatomy
• autobiography
• illness
• psychic torture