FINAL Plastic body wrap

I chose to make my body image based upon the words "body ritual" because it would prove to be less boring than some of the others that I had come up with.

The etymology of body ritual only influenced my gesture in a mental pathway that led me to mummification, which is a culturally religious act.

The gesture reflects the word because mummification is a ritual that certain cultures will practice.

The gesture is only a reflection of myself in bodily form, I do not personalize myself with mummification in any way other than I find it fascinating.

The puppeteer is culture and the visual elements chosen to represent the puppeteer was a deep red color painted on the cross with the word ”culture” on one side facing the mummy and the definition of culture facing the sky. The definition is: An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning.

The color red symbolizes the vital entity (the blood of life which is culture) that touches all aspects of life and death. I chose to display the definition of culture because as most people know WHAT it is, the actual definition is often overlooked.

The thought process of our project was successful, the actual body taping was mildly unsuccessful, though I was still able to produce a body shape. When I first started this project there were grand illusions of a cement hard body shape that I could turn in AND use for future halloween decor. Yet, I have to admit that I'm disappointed in the final results. The body was done in class with the help of my Partner, let's call her 'K' and the head was done at home with the help of my husband. After one weekend with the body hanging around the house, I could tell that it wasn't going to be rock hard like I wanted it to be. At no fault of K or my husbands, I think we should have used more plastic wrap. I also mixed cheap tape with expensive tape and used a ton of both, yet still the body would not stay upright and bent at the ankles. After leaving it in the classroom for the weekend, it was again smashed under two other bodies and I had to reinforce the pelvic area with wire. If I were to do this project again, I would only use the most expensive tape and wrap a second layer of plastic wrap. I also would not do it in sections, as that seemed to cause some weakness in the shape.

Collectively, people were very helpful and seemed like they were having fun. As an observation while scanning the room, everyone seemed to be participating in assisting their partners. However, there was a snag during installation with the fishing line and I felt that people could have better prepared. I also understand that it’s unrealistic for me to assume that people have had previous experience with fishing line and the high probability of knotting, not everyone has been fishing.

This project defintely proved to be interesting but way more time consuming than I think intended. However, I would recommend it and it would be perfect for a tween summer camp craft.