Physical Status Report 2.0video 10:55 min. 2021
How should a body look to meet the beauty ideals of our time? Who creates those ideals? What body types are our society designed to accommodate? In the artwork Physical Status Report 2.0, Luna Scales employs her own body as material to explore contemporary beauty standards and nations of the 'normal', functional body. She appears nude in the same reclining posture women have been painted in countless times throughout art history. How ever, the video's soundtrack tells a more intimate story: a female voice reads from Scales' medical records, providing a close look into the artist's life and the authorities' assessments of her physical condition. Scales was born with a muscle disor der, causing her muscles to become easily strained. Through her naked self-presentation, Scales exudes vulnerability and confidence simultaneously. Scales shows us how science and language influence our understanding of our own and other people's bodies.
Women and Change ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art 2022. Photos: David Stjernholm
Link to excerpt of the video. For access to the full version, please contact the artist.
Photography: Luna Scales. Color grading: Fabian Wigren. Voice over: Kate Sterchi