24 Owen Leong

Sunshine Coast Art Prize 2016 – Finalist

[Image courtesy of the artist]

Owen Leong | Aura | 2014 | pigment print on archival cotton paper | 120 x 90 x 5 cm

Artist Statement

Aura visualises the human circulatory system as an external shadow. This work is inspired by an 18th century engraving of the blood circulatory system, which has been cut from black leather. The act of hand cutting leather traces the passage of blood as it circles the body. The webbed veins of the circulatory system are then draped over my body like a second skin. A surgical stainless steel device holds my mouth open, symbolically silencing while opening up the body as a passive receptacle, suggesting medicalisation of the body, hierarchies of classification and power. Aura attempts to make visible the transmission of social, cultural and political forces across the body.