Conclusion

“At the present time everything would seem to indicate that the body has become an object of salvation” (Baudrillard quoted in Berthelot, 2001, p.393).

Performance/Body Art and its continuing evolution can be placed within an Art History context, with its roots established in Romanticism, where interpretation and experience are expressed as a subjective emotional response. The artist’s use of his own body and the significance of that body throughout the 20th century have become increasingly prominent as a conveyor or conduct for highlighting, reflecting and articulating the state both socially and politically of society today. Significantly it is since the late 1960’s that artists have increasingly used their bodies in ever more extreme and direct ways as both maker and material to express this. Franko B’s use of his own blood as material is laden with symbolic meaning. Associations with religion flow through B’s performance work, from the wounds on his body to the carefully presented gestures all convey and articulate meaning. It is within religious doctrine that the state of the ‘abject’ is defined, homosexuality also defined as the ‘other’ continues to be a controversial issue and subject for debate within the church today.

We live in a society where the body is so highly mediated that our grasp on reality is becoming compromised. The status of the ‘real’ body is constantly being undermined to the point where any image whether it is seen on television, in film or photography can, due to computer technology, be manipulated and changed. The internet further extends and fragments this feeling of dislocation and threatens our perception of the ‘real’ body.

The body within society is subject to a continuous discourse which has shaped and changed our understanding, acceptances, tolerances and prejudices. The state of abjection has its foundations established within Western Religious doctrine it is from designated taboos and exclusions that religion and society has constantly refined and redefined the body’s status. With each experts analysis from Freud to Foucault each expressing their philosophy and beliefs the resulting implications for society, whether it be on sexuality, gender, race, normal or abnormal are profound. With each interrogation there are identified minority groups within society to which are applied labels setting them apart, and this continues to reinforce prejudices within that society. The result is a whole host of minority groups that exist outside of our accepted understanding of the social hierarchy.

fig.21 From the series Still Life, 2003

Franko B’s use and abuse of his body is direct, extreme and uncompromising. The abject state not only refers to the boundaries of the body but also has associations with that of identity, alienation and the ‘other’, even the state of nakedness is charged with meaning. Is it possible for this body to convey so many meanings? Arthur Frank writing about the communicative body refers to “The body continues to be formed among institutions and discourses, but these are now media for its expression” (Featherstone et al, 2001, p.80). Franko B symbolically presents his body to us as the site in which the only ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ resides. He challenges our own preconceptions about death, implicitly, his use of his own blood and its associations with HIV induces a state of heightened awareness of risk to those present rather than one of complacency.

Is it possible for the broken boundaries of Franko B’s body to represent the wider interpretation of the ‘other’ the marginalised? In all of Franko B’s work it is the context in which his work is experienced that is most vital. Derrida (2000) refers to the concept of context as one of never being able to have a fixed or certain understanding. If this is true then other associations relating to the socially excluded ‘other’ may well be projected onto the work, but this can only be a subjective response, and as a witness  to Franko B’s work it very much relies on the exchange that takes place between audience and artist. All that B (Franko-b, 2003) asks of his audience is that they are “honest with themselves and open” and it is within this emotional interplay that Franko B’s performance work may become a catalyst for representing much wider issues in society. As Franko B opens up the boundaries of his skin, it is up to the spectator to cross the threshold in order to make these connections.

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Introduction
Tracing Foundations
The Artist’s Body
Broken Boundaries
Religion, Ritual, Shaman
Nudity and Nakedness
Corporeality
The Gift
Conclusion
Illustrations
Bibliography