CodySchrierDESMA9 - Week 4 Blog

 Week 4 Blog

Medicine, technology, and art have all helped one another when it comes to discovering and documenting the human body. It has been quite the journey moving from dissection and drawing, what they started with, to now shifting to these greater advancements in technology leading to a change in "our perceptions of our bodies" (Vesna 2:07). As seen in Bodies Incorporated, we are now able to get actual scans of our bodies. 

A portable x-ray device was created by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen and he described the machine as a "mathematical designation for something unknown" (Vesna 2:55). Following the creation of x-rays cam MRI's as well as CAT scans, all developed and made to help us further understand how to treat diseases and any body breakdown because we are able to see what is happening inside our bodies through this lens. 

Our bodies may seem perfectly fine on the outside but internally there is so much happening that really can only be found through some of these scans. Because of this, "patients often feel unheard or unbelieved when sharing their symptoms, and the consequences can be catastrophic" (Artist + Digital Technologist Transforming Human Health). Having played baseball my entire life, a lot of my teammates get hurt and they do not know what is fully wrong until they get an X-Ray or MRI. Most of the time we have no clue what the issue may be until we use technology and the advantages it has. 

The understanding of the body also made me interested in the idea of plastic surgery. The combination of "new forms of technology and plastic surgery came out of war" (Vesna 1:58), which is no shock but is interesting how plastic surgery is being used today. I often think about celebrities, specifically the Kardsahians, and how they get a ton of work done to their faces and bodies to change how they look. Botox is a form of plastic surgery that is used a ton in both men and women. My mother for instance gets botox to hide her wrinkles and she does this simply for her own liking, similar to the image of the plastic doll by Christophe Luxereau.

Resources: 

“Artist + Digital Technologist Transforming Human Health.” Virgil Wong, 28 May 2022, https://www.virgilwong.com/. 

Bodies INCorporated , http://www.bodiesinc.ucla.edu/media/image/headMain.jpg. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023. 

Life & Style , 13 May 2022, https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Kardashian-Plastic-Surgery-Transformation.jpg?crop=0px%2C31px%2C2000px%2C1133px&resize=1920%2C1080&quality=86&strip=all. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023. 

Luxereau, Christophe. Christophe Luxereau Website : Home, https://www.luxereau.com/. 

“MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).” Cleveland Clinic , 5 Sept. 2022, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/images/org/health/articles/4876-mri. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023. 

Vesna, Victoria. Human Body & Medical Technologies. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023. 

Vesna, Victoria. Human Body & Medical Technologies part 2. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023. 

Vesna, Victoria. Human Body & Medical Technologies part 3. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023.

“Young Woman Receiving Botox Beauty Injection In Forehead.” Adobe Stock, Pro-Stock Studio , https://as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/03/28/83/23/1000_F_328832320_HeFAYqIeA0K7MTQbSXyaboNjN56s2n89.jpg. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023.