Week 4: MedTech + Art (Travis Shibata-Bardaro)

    As mentioned by Professor Victoria Vesna, arts and medical sciences were often intertwined throughout history with a focus on understanding the beauty of the human body. Plastic surgery, for example, is a medical discipline interested in aesthetics, which is defined by Fernandes as “the study and creation of beauty in art and nature.”
    Orlan’s body performance arts caught my attention the most as she mixed art with the medical technology of plastic surgery. Her performances were not staged within a theatre but on top of an operating table, where she would read “philosophical, literary or psychoanalytic texts while being operated on” (Davis 26). My initial reaction was rather negative. Although Orlan was criticizing beauty standards, I thought she was doing so at the cost of berating those who undergo plastic surgery themselves. This is due to the fact that Orlan makes the whole process unprofessional, silly, and disturbing to witness, and comes out of the surgery with an avant-garde look that almost resembles a botched surgery. In fact, in 1933, Orlan underwent surgery to implant cheekbone enhancements to the sides of her forehead, as seen in the second figure (Jeffries).
Figure 1: Orlan reading texts while being operated on for cosmetic surgery (“Orlan, The Mouth of Europa”).
Figure 2: Orlan’s look after her 1933 plastic surgery with cheekbone implants on the side of her brows (“Orlan, The Reincarnation”).

    Consequently, I thought her work perpetuated the stigma behind individuals who had plastic surgery. In 2003, a study that surveyed an entire junior class of a suburban high school in California found that the majority who did not desire any cosmetic procedure described those who did get work done as “vain” (Pearl and Weston). A forum on Quora that asked “Why do people look down on plastic surgery” received a highly upvoted reply, which stated that people do not admire insecurities (Teodora). This answer along with the study of high school students is summed up perfectly by Kaitlin Clark, who writes “And many still hold the idea that cosmetic treatments are vain, superficial, or only for people with low self-esteem.”
    As pointed out by the 2003 study, there was also this general fear of surgeries being botched or resulting in some sort of health issue. Again, Orlan’s performances only exacerbated the issue by making the spectacle unprofessional and focusing on the bloodiness. Media and entertainment are also to blame. One magazine article titled “Celebrities who have taken plastic surgery WAY too far are exposed in viral before-and-after images that have left fans stunned” speaks for itself. The article obtained photos from an Instagram account named CelebFace, which shared side-by-side comparisons of Hollywood stars before and after their cosmetic procedures. Using words such as “unrecognizable” and “overboard” mixed with a negative tone, the article spoke negatively about cosmetic surgeries (Gissen). Furthermore, the images chosen for comparison are inequitable as the stars are often compared to a professional photograph with proper angles and lighting, as seen in the figures below (Gissen).
Figure 3 (left) and 4 (right): Photos of celebrities taken at a younger and older age in order to highlight their cosmetic surgeries. On the left is Janice Dickinson and on the right is Mickey Rourke (CelebFan).

    I should note that my initial interpretation of Orlan’s work was likely misguided, especially after reading various other perspectives. For instance, Kathy Davis views Orlan’s art as a feminist critique of cosmetic surgery aimed at reclaiming it for the benefit of women.

Works Cited:
CelebFan. “Before and After Photo of Janice Dickinson.” Daily Mail UK, 30 Mar. 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11916899/Celebrities-taken-plastic-surgery-WAY-far-exposed-posts.html. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.

CelebFan. “Before and After Photo of Mickey Rourke.” Daily Mail UK, 30 Mar. 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11916899/Celebrities-taken-plastic-surgery-WAY-far-exposed-posts.html. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.

Clark, Kaitlin. “Are We Done Shaming People for Having ‘Work Done’ Yet?” InStyle, InStyle, 23 June 2021, https://www.instyle.com/beauty/debunking-anti-cosmetic-procedure-stigma-new-data.

Davis, Kathy. “'My Body Is My Art' Cosmetic Surgery as Feminist Utopia?” Feminist Theory and the Body, Edinburgh University Press, New York, 1999, pp. 454–465.

Fernandes, Julio Wilson. “The Legacy of Art in Plastic Surgery.” Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open, vol. 9, no. 4, Apr. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1097/gox.0000000000003519.

Gissen, Lillian. “Celebrities Who Have Taken Plastic Surgery Way Too Far Exposed in before and after Posts.” Daily Mail Online, Daily Mail UK, 30 Mar. 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11916899/Celebrities-taken-plastic-surgery-WAY-far-exposed-posts.html.

Jeffries, Stuart. “Orlan's Art of Sex and Surgery.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 July 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jul/01/orlan-performance-artist-carnal-art.

Orlan. “Orlan, The Mouth of Europa and the Figure of Venus.” Feminist Theories & Art Practices, 1960s-1990s, http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/courses/fa/htm/fa_ck_orlan_1.htm. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.

Orlan. “Orlan, The Reincarnation of Saint-Orlan.” ThingLink, 2016, https://www.thinglink.com/scene/684429919949684736. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.

Pearl, Anne, and Jane Weston. “Attitudes of Adolescents about Cosmetic Surgery.” Annals of Plastic Surgery, vol. 50, no. 6, 2003, pp. 628–630., https://doi.org/10.1097/01.sap.0000054365.54173.95.

Teodora Greywoolf. “Why do people look down on plastic surgery?” Quora, 2017, https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-look-down-on-plastic-surgery.

Vesna, Victoria. “Human Body and Medical Technologies.” 25 Apr. 2023, UCLA, UCLA.

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