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" The Book of Skin "
Murray, Tonia
Vally, Sumayya
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1056472
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| Doc. No
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TL55589
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| Main Entry
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Murray, Tonia
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| Title & Author
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The Book of Skin\ Murray, ToniaVally, Sumayya
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| College
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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| Date
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2020
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| Degree
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M.Tech.
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2020
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| Note
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163 p.
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| Abstract
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‘From oral history to body art, the body is simply another surface, much like any other, into which culture is carved, sculpted, cut, patterned and tattooed. In this context, the skin acquires depth, becoming a “thick space” in which memory, history, tradition, and testimony are literally inscribed.’ - Lesley Lokko (2016) The Austrian artist and theorist Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s philosophy, The Five Skins of Man theorises a framework of five skins that define man’s identity; the epidermis, clothing, house, social identity and the earth. In present day, our definitions and understanding of these skins - from the skin of the body to the skin of the earth’s territory - are becoming increasingly destabilized and hybrid. Steven Connor asserts that “skin is not so much a swath of interconnected cells as a palimpsest, choked with meaning and symbol” (Connor 2004). Skin is as he asserts, “a substance, vehicle and metaphor” (Connor 2004:9). One example of the hybrid nature of earth and epidermis is evident through the control of movement in which exclusionary notions of race determine where and how bodies can migrate. The history of the world is intrinsically tied to the history of movement; from the earliest hunter-gatherer nomadic groupings, slavery and colonization, and current migration movements. The global political impetus to maintain and define boundaries is more pressing, intensive and contested than ever . At no time in human history has movement been more strictly and, increasingly, violently controlled, including on racial grounds. Throughout history, ties between Sahrawi ethnic groups and the Moroccan state have been established and respected. These ties reflected the concept of sovereignty as practiced during the era of Islāmic rule and are consistent with the patterns of nomadic life in the Sahara; characterized by permanent mobility that is non-conducive for the existence of a fixed administration. However, Morocco’s exposure to multinational colonisation and Algeria’s attempts at hindering Morocco’s independence and reintegrating Western Sahara into Moroccan territory has made it a highly contested area. Both Algeria and the Polisario Front – an independent Western Sahara movement – claim it as their own. The longstanding feud over Western Sahara resulted in Morocco constructing the Wall of Western Sahara, “a [2,500 kilometre] 1,500-mile tract of land mines and elevated barricades” (Swenson 2014). The tactical move from offence to defence on Morocco’s part has absorbed Western Sahara into Moroccan territory. This site, inhabited by various nomadic populations from across the Sahara, forms the stage for my Major Design Project, my own Book of Skins. I draw on Hundertwasser’s Five Skins of Man to investigate, challenge and reconfigure contested spaces (the border wall, a trade post and the house) using four reinterpretations of skin. Architecturally, the nomad is a construct which “undoes” architecture. Architecture’s mandate seeks to solidify and impose identity and place, while the nomad resists notions of home and identity that are tied to fixed place. For the nomad, notions of territory and identity are more linked to ritual, language, traditions and cultural practice. One such example is the Tan-Tan Moussem, an annual gathering of more than twenty nomadic tribes from Northwest Africa; and parts of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. My Book of Skins draws on the Tan-Tan Moussem, as a proxy for overlapping, clashing and interweaving ethnicities, identities, politics and geographies of various politically contested regions. It takes inspiration from these contradictions and complexities to develop new architectural skins, which express and counter the arbitrary nature of imposed legal political boundaries. These skins speculate on an alternative political future and a new set of relations between regions, where relationships, borders, and territories exist in a productive state of tension.
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| Descriptor
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Aesthetics
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Architecture
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Cultural anthropology
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North African studies
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Vally, Sumayya
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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