Body Language: Idiomatic Anatomy

Abstract

As a student of biology and the visual arts, I have experienced a continuously shifting perspective of the life forms that surround me. Particularly I have been interested in the role anatomy plays in expressing emotions, specifically in the context of idiomatic phrases. I was intrigued by how these phrases might change in meaning as they transformed from a verbal to a visual medium, and what the visual representations of these phrases would reveal about the treatment of the human form. Throughout the process, the anatomy I was investigating shifted from the subject to an abstraction of the language and how it utilizes it. Through this exploration, I have gained a fresh understanding of attitudes toward the human body through emotive and transformative language.