Bennett, A 2013, Shifting Skin: Transforming Fabric , Cube 36 @ Frankston Arts Centre; commissioned by White Street Project with the support of Arts Victoria, 24 May – 16 Jun 2013.
“Shifting Skin: Transforming Fabric presented detailed scans of human skin marked by tattoo ink. In a sleight of hand, selected elements of these tattoos were animated and appeared to move across the surface of the skin as tattoos shift and phase across the different projections, visible from the street.
By holding a flatbed scanner directly on her subjects’ skin, Bennett flattened the contours of the body and re-imagined the digitalized skin – seemingly as a fabric – that extends beyond the body proper. These animations include screenshots of the digital interface used to create the transformations, offering an insight into the architecture behind the work. The results are beautiful and uncanny, estranging and intimate.
This silent moving image work is part of a larger ongoing project that examines skin as a photographic surface and a transitioning fabric. Bennett deploys a unique combination of techniques that include scanography, 3D depth maps and animation, to create an experience that is somewhat disorientating and revelatory.”
Alison Bennett 