My Body My Self

1996

202 x 60 x 42 cm

Patinated bronze, ruby mica, argon and stainless steel.

Because the body is seen pieced together and not as a seamless whole, the inside of the body becomes visible. Both literally and metaphorically the image of the feminine has been shattered allowing women to perceive their inner world more clearly than ever before.

The finished work portrays simultaneously the physical body and the psyche. It is both fragmented and yet whole, layered and luminous. Its fragility and its aggressive power convey the tensions between the inner and the outer self.

Most bronze statues are monuments expressing permanence. Lijn wants to use bronze to express the vulnerability of impermanence.

Skin is a living surface. Lijn wanted the body to appear as a living skin or shell. And more importantly she wanted to find a way of expressing the energy within the body.

Photographs by Stephen Weiss.