Anna Ruback

The human figure, the body, has always seemed to me to be a separate foreign entity. I don't know that there was ever a time when I was not conscious of my own form. For as long as I can remember, I have been acutely aware of my corporeality and my physical occupation of space. Throughout my practice, a constant theme of the work I've produced has been a focus on the human form; my files resemble a catalog of figures and forms, dismembered, dissociated, and anonymous. The human figure - its shapes and forms, its ability to be manipulated, and its materiality - is the one thing that all humans have in common. Yet paradoxically, all of us experience our body differently. Through examination, investigation and documentation, the body corporeal is depicted in multiple ways throughout this (quite literal) body of work. The work is often overtly grotesque, but sometimes more soft and tranquil. It elicits a visceral response, prompting questions that explore the complexities of the state of being human and having to be a body.