Readings on fragments, borders, body and meaning

This thesis traces the fragmented representations of human body in art history; investigating the changing meaning and boundary of body as a concept and its reflection on visual representations. Rather than proposing a general art theory, this study aims to expand the basis of the personal works. In this respect, theoretical substructure on fragmented body has been examined; the artists who focus on body, especially on body parts have been investigated and personal works has been placed in the related sections of the text. The concept of the body has been approached from three different angles: body as a physical object that acts as a sensor device in mind and body dialectics, body as a subject that produces meaning and body as a socially performed and culturally constructed being. In this context, fragmentation of body as a physical and historical reality, body as a metaphor of fragmentation life and society, fragmentation of self in psychoanalytic and phenomenological theories have been elaborated. Even though some of the artists who define themselves as feminists have also been included in this study, feminist theories have not been detailed since the concept of body has been approached as a whole not as female body only. Keywords: body, fragment, metaphor, part, gaze, panopticon