wytchcroft

ok, so, reading a recent piece by an lj-chum nudged something in my owlish east-wing of a brain and got me pondering (and not so deeply) on the human body.

Not a subject that most of us like to dwell on for long - and yet one that constantly fascinates, pains, frustrates and delights us.
The nudge was a realisation that the human body is lacking somewhat (no smarty Lac(k)anian jokiness please) in my scribblings. Possibly this is simply because i have terrible eye-sight, or am hyper-aware of how negatively the body is seen by many of its owners or even down to the fact that (especially when modelling) i have a preference for the body as a landscape rather than the body as an object.

This is a wonky enough preference though, i'll admit.
I mean, yell Modigliani* at me and i have to give in. So... just a preference then.

Or take the fact that i completely (and instinctively) support an all positive body value - that is to say, i find human bodies unique and wonderous and believe passionately that all should be recognised as being of equal interest and appeal.
My obsession with Victorian and 1920s and 1960s fashions can therefore be used as a big hypocrite stick to beat me with.

So, why is the body so rarely referenced? I adore hands, and sign language has been known to make me cry like a timelord. Dancing fingers - have you noticed the hands of the very old? So tentative but often unexpectedly gentle and expressive.
OK so, check, hands are in, also eyes and mouths (probably due to the amount of facial reading i have to do - or simply because that with those we are intimate these are the parts that we seek out constantly).

The body can surprise us - i have a well known thing for footwear and yet actual feet i paid little attention to, until not long ago when a reflexologist friend was comparing her feet with mine and i was overtly moved (yes, again, like a timelord) by their beauty. A French friend once told me that her favourite part of the body was the shoulders, and that all shoulders are beautiful. I'm also drawn to shoulders and spent most of the 1980s with at least one of my own on display. So, shoulders - but even they only snuck into my lj recently.

So the point is - or rather the question; step back from yourself, and tell me - what of the body do you pay attention to? Which bits have popped up in your own writing/photography/art and to what extent? Is this deliberate or not? Remember, it does not have to be your own body, but anybody!

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*my sympathies tend to go with the Jeanne Hébuternes and Victorine Meurents of this world though.

this was partially written to test lj and jinkies there are some headaches and problems posting there right now. grrr.