ARTWORKS
Kanako Shintaku

I’m still alive
Year: 2020
Materials: MITIS paper, MITIS print
Size: W2546 H1800 mm, W1030 H728 mm
Room: 208

Work Commentary:
I cover my entire body with paint and photograph the performance as a form of self-portraiture. By mixing cornflour into paints made from the three primary colours plus white, the pigments blend directly on my skin. They slowly harden through my own body heat, taking four to eight hours to form a new layer of skin. For me, the body is a canvas and paint is a medium; at zero distance, my body becomes the painting itself.

I began this performance nine years ago as a way to affirm that I am alive. Through this work, I seek to extend the body and its senses, to step away from the self, and to convey the freedom found when the boundaries of the individual dissolve. This act is, quite literally, a process of hyper-embodiment, dis-embodiment, and co-embodiment.