The Body(ies)

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the "Bodies Uncovered" exhibit in Kansas City this weekend, and for those who don't know what "Bodies Uncovered" is, it has nothing to do with burlesque or stripping. To its possible detriment.

No, "Bodies Uncovered" is an exhibit that tours the world in which dozens of human bodies are dissected and preserved using a special polymer process that stops decay, preserves size and the illusion of moisture and allows for some seriously in depth looks at actual human bodies. Some people are skinned and kept in one piece, others are sectioned (in every way you can imagine) and others are used for organ specimens or other various exhibits.

I'm not squeamish, by and large, but I had heard some good questions raised about this exhibit...like where do you get your hands on more than 40 human bodies. Rumors swirled but it's mostly accepted that the bodies came from volunteers. I find that odd, because among other pieces on display there was a dead woman with a dead fetus inside her dead womb kept in one piece for my viewing and supposed enhancement of my appreciation for the human body. It makes one wonder.

Still, it's undeniable that by spending time with perfectly preserved human bodies I DID walk away with a better understanding of what's going on inside me. And a desire to never eat anything again. From a scientific viewpoint, I'd never seen the body as a whole and it truly is awesome how all these little bones and cartilage and veins work together to create something else, something bigger than the sum of its parts.

But, and this is a big but...EWWWW. And HOLY SHIT. And GLUPGT.

Example: There was a dude (and we knew it was a dude because he was anatomically correct..why wouldn't he be?) who was cut into around 10 sections vertically from face to back. Then a different dude diced vertically from side to side. Then, and this was the coup de grace, a dude cut into fillet Mignon-looking sections from toes to head which covered nearly 10 feet of display space, or as Ron Popiel would put it, "more than 9 feet of genuine diced human." It's amazing and it's educational but then you get to the section with the eyes and next thing you know this isn't "random diced guy" but "diced guy who had a mother and father and probably people who loved him." If he was there of his own free will, it doesn't make it any less disturbing for me. If he wasn't, I feel like I'm aiding a crime or at the very least an act of perversity.

But then there were pieces of incredible beauty. At one point, the veins and arteries in a human hand lay suspended in liquid - literally thousands of individual strands making something we all recognize at the end of our elbow. It was breathtaking.

So the question is "does something with scientific and possible artistic value yet undeniable controversy merit appreciation, further study or both?" I think it's both, with a healthy dose of EWWWW on my part. I believe we're even more than the some of our physiology, and whatever that might be weighed heavy on me as I saw the raw elements that make up humans. My head said "this is good and important" and whatever spirituality I have left was pulling back hard. Either way, it was worth stepping into the display. Very worth it.