PERFECTLY NORMAL (2013)
Installatiion. Badges, dispenser, poster, variable measurements
Developed for The IMID Art Project by AbbVie and the Chair of Art and Disease at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), the work addresses the social stigma surrounding psoriasis and other visible skin conditions.
Interviews with people living with psoriasis revealed that one of their greatest concerns was social rejection, driven by the discomfort or revulsion that visible lesions can provoke in others. Perfectly Normal responds to this stigma by turning the language of advertising against itself.
The work was conceived as an advertising campaign in which an image of skin affected by psoriasis forms the word NORMAL through its lesions. Badges bearing the message are made available through a dispenser, inviting visitors to wear and spread the word as if it were contagious.
By presenting “normality” as something that can be transmitted, the work questions who defines what is considered normal and how social perceptions of the body are constructed.
Perfectly Normal, exhibited as part of Perspectives. Art, Inflammation & Me, Strandzuid, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
