Self-Fashioning and Agency
Carl and Karen Pope, Palimpsest, 1998–99, stills from single-channel video, color with sound, 6:37 minutes. Courtesy of Carl and Karen Pope. Photograph by Clare Britt.
Call: In Palimpsest (1998–99), the artists and twin siblings Carl and Karen Pope, explore
reclaiming individual agency over the body as a means to resist the ways systems of oppression have harmed or stereotyped Black bodies. In a series of three permanent physical self-modifications, filmed and then compiled together as one video, Carl positions his own body as a site of simultaneous vulnerability and power. First, we see the artist having the adinkra symbol “Aya” (meaning “I am not afraid of you”) branded on his back. Second, a small incision is made on the artist’s arm and the small layer of skin is lifted up; a light shone through the skin shows how thin it is. Finally, a poem written by Karen is tattooed across the entire length of the artist’s body. Together, these acts represent the artist rewriting historical narratives and practices of violence—taking charge of how his own body experiences pain and beauty.
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THE BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART
