Issue 18: The Body As...

Here are bodies that are overworked, stigmatised, and feared. Denied access at borders, controlled and de-legitimized by reductive legislation; these bodies endure the full array of state forces. Restrained by dominant definitions of the ‘acceptable body’, erased by common consensus, reduced to the minimum dimensions or calorie requirements needed to maximise profit; the body is a battleground of desire. Here are bodies that are loving, excessive, and refuse to be censored. By listening to and protecting one another, the collective body is strengthened. These bodies preserve and retell their stories, transcending prevailing narratives—together they educate, diagnose and heal themselves, generating an inclusive body knowledge. These bodies invite you to take action to transform the landscape of representation. Here are bodies that create their own hope. From tooling up to protect our data bodies, to rendering the violence done to bodies en masse, this issue looks to explore concepts of ‘the body’ in an expanded sense.

Printed: May 2017

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