Listening to the presentations was so interesting, and I enjoyed hearing about everyone’s research process. I was especially excited about Sofia’s presentation because it’s so relevant to my thesis work with Fluxus, and she made me consider the role of artist identity in shaping the art they produce. I think it’s surprising that body modification isn’t really present in performance art because so much of it revolves around body presence and presentation, and tattooing (even if temporary) is an interesting medium for expression. I liked Zehra’s presentation a lot too and thought she presented the tension between tattooing and fine arts very clearly. I think the way we display, discuss, and view tattoos is a crucial part of understanding why tattoos are different from traditional art and what role they play in the art world.
I still have a lot of work to do in forming my final paper, and I have so many ideas that need to be clarified and narrowed down. Listening to the rest of the class presentations helped me understand the direction that I think my work needs to go in and demonstrated some clearly structured research that will be a great model for me. I also need to narrow down my sources, because I have collected too many and some are no longer relevant to my thesis,